Ski Photography Tips from Behind the Camera with Julia Kern

Julia Kern sporting Skida in Seefeld, Austria

Lumi Experiences is thrilled to support Olympian Julia Kern this winter as she makes her way around the World Cup circuit for the 7th season. We love Julia's enthusiasm for all things she does, and not just skiing. Julia is an inspiration for aspiring skiers of all ages (IG: @juliakernski), but did you know she’s also fluent in German and snaps professional-quality photos during her travels?

Julia Kern visiting Innsbruck, Austria this January

Julia’s family is from Germany, and although she grew up outside Boston, she developed a passion for skiing on the trails in Oberwiesenthal. In the past, she would return to Germany every Christmas for her family’s traditional cross country ski trek, and no longer for the gummy bears her grandparents used to bribe her with. Recently, Seefeld, Austria has become her Christmas training location of choice (it's even German speaking)! Here are a few shots Julia captured from recent holidays in Seefeld: 

Keeping perspective in perspective on a ski with family

Exploring some of the classic-only trails in Seefeld, Austria

We caught up with Julia during her post-Tour de Ski “training camp” in Seefeld. Can you call it a training camp when the goal is getting rest and recovery from a grueling 7 days of racing? … that sounds more like a vacation.

With Lumi Experiences guests traveling in Seefeld this month on the Marcialonga & König Ludwig Lauf Trip to two Worldloppet events, we wanted to get a few ski travel photography tips from Julia to share with our guests and other skiers for their travels this winter…

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As you start to think about what to pack and how to capture your experiences along the way, check out Julia’s tips and tricks for taking next-level photos of winter adventures with just a smartphone:

Brightness: What’s the weather like? Can you have the skier face the sun so they’re well lit? If the image is still looking a bit dark and you’re using an iPhone, tap your phone screen and a yellow box with a sun icon will appear. Tap and hold the sun icon while dragging your finger up or down to change the brightness of the image in real time.

Composition: To emphasize the subject you’re capturing and keep the shot from looking too symmetrical, shoot the photo with the subject in the left or right third of the image. This is called the Rule of Thirds. In your camera’s settings, you can even apply a grid layout for a real-time guide.

Movement: It can be hard to capture a skier in action. A simple trick is to take a burst of photos and select the best images after. On an iPhone, slide the capture button to the left and hold until you want your phone to stop taking photos. (On older iPhone models, tap and hold the capture button). On newer models, you can also shoot a “live” photo and in the editing mode, move the slider to select the frame you like. 

Perspective: It can be fun to switch up the angle of your photos. Hold your phone near the ground and snap an image at an upward angle, or try holding your phone high above your head to take a photo of a subject skiing out in front of you (see image above).

Making patterns on the crust snow in Australia

Patterns: Ski trails can reveal some fun patterns: who doesn’t love photos of newly groomed tracks or fresh corduroy?

Editing: It’s easy to adjust photos on the go. On an iPhone, Julia likes to adjust the brilliance, highlights, shadows, and contrast of photos. If you’ve captured a snowy winter scene and it’s too bright and over-exposed, a quick trick is to try lowering the highlights and brightening the shadows.

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We hope these tips and tricks help capture all the fun times and winter scenes on your ski adventures this season! A big thanks to Julia for sharing her insights with us. All of us at Lumi Experience will be rooting for Julia at the upcoming World Championships in Planica, Slovenia.

If you want to travel to many of the places where Julia travels and photographs, check out Lumi Experiences’ 2024 trips on lumiexperiences.com. Save $300 per person when you sign up for any trip before March 31.

See you on the trail,
Garrott Kuzzy