Problems photographing ski show at night

[derekf]

Hi there,
I'm working through the course (lesson 3) but am currently away skiing and taking the opportunity to try out some photography.
One of the things I've been trying to do is to take some photos of an "Fire and Ice" show at night involving skiers and boarders jumping through rings of fire.
I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the focus on the jumpers and to also figure out the exposure - when they are in the air it's a black background and when lower it's against the snowy ski slope.
Pictures taken using EOS 500D with 55-200 lens (waiting for 70-300 to be delivered) shutter 1/128. I had to set ISO at 3200 to try to get things I could see and set exposure bias value to +2
I've posted a couple of examples but would really appreciate some tips



Thanks,
Derek...

[Pat]

Hi Derek. Exposure in this case would be a tough nut to crack. If you do manage to adequately expose the skiers/boarders those flames and possibly areas of snow are going to be blown out. That may be your only option. You will need a decent shutter speed to freeze action.
If you have decent post production facilities/skills you might try slightly underexposing then dodging the figures a bit.
A neutral density filter with a clear area in the center would be a handy thing but not much help to you now. Not sure if such a beast exists.
Regarding focus...autofocus is notoriously unreliable in dim light. You should focus manually or prefocus. Measure or guestimate the distance then set the scale on your lens barrel to that distance.
I would also suggest you move or zoom in closer/tighter for a few shots. Fill your frame with the image of the skier/boarder, along with the wider, all encompassing shots.
Good luck.