Riding up the chairlift with a pal the other day, we were lamenting our ability – or, more accurately, our inability – to capture good photos while on the ski slopes. Despite having the most powerful cameras we’ve ever owned built into our phones, dazzling tech doesn’t necessarily translate into dazzling results. The average snap from a phone camera on the ski slope has the odd habit of making the fantastic seem mundane. Scale is squashed, with mountains turning to molehills. Black diamond slopes read as gentler than the slope of Congress Street in Portland. And dazzling white snow and bluebird skies come across as drab.

Upon reflection, the fault for this doesn’t lie with the cameras. I was reminded of one of my favorite pieces from Ski magazine from the early 2000s titled “Cheap Shots” by Kristin Murphy, where skiers were sent out on the hill with disposable cameras, and with stunning results. Surely, if these photographers could coax masterpieces out of a $20 Holga in 2002, I could get great shots with a 48MP telephoto lens. We also can’t blame it on the terrain. While skiers from out west may dump on the size of eastern mountains, photos from Jamie Walter to the Ski the East crew to the dependable team here at the Maine Sunday Telegram prove that you can take stunning, dramatic photos of mountains here in Maine.

No, as with skiing, you don’t blame the equipment when you can blame the athlete. It all comes down to technique. The best skis are the ones you have on you, and the best camera is the one you have with you.

To get good photos – ski or otherwise – you need to first focus on fundamentals. While I’m not saying you need to enroll in art school or commit Ansel Adams’ “The Negative” to memory, it’s worth noting that the fundamental rules of good composition haven’t changed much since the dawn of photography. (There’s also a saying that rules are meant to be broken, but let’s limit the focus for the time being.) The easiest rule of thumb to follow is the rule of thirds – one so fundamental to photography that an option grid is built into most phone cameras. Basically, picture your photo split into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You’ll want to position major elements of your photo (the horizon, a tree or lift tower) along these lines, and the focal subjects at the intersection of these lines. Simple! It’s a quick trick to make sure that your photos are balanced and dynamic, and draw the eye of the viewer around the image.

Also fundamental is lighting, which can mean the difference between a beautiful shot and a washed-out mess. Your best light will be during the golden hours – that hour that follows sunrise, or the hour preceding sunset. The light at these times tends to cast long shadows (which provides some depth to your shots) and softer shadows than the hard-edged ones of midday. Here in New England, you’re going to want to aim for the morning golden hour, rather than the afternoon, thanks to our ski geography. Since most mountains in Maine are laid out with a southern exposure to capture sunlight, the slopes will likely be in the shade by mid-afternoon. Flat light isn’t fun for skiing, and it’s not great for photography, either. In contrast, as great as the midday sun is for skiing, it’s not the best time for photos since you’ll have dark shadows coming straight down on your subject.

On the technical side of things, you need to pay special attention to your phone’s exposure settings when you shoot skiing. Snow-covered slopes feed a huge amount of white into your camera’s lens, and your phone will most likely attempt to automatically balance it by making the whole shot darker. The darkness has a tendency to muddy details. If you slightly overexpose your images while shooting, you’ll get a better shot (and can always darken them manually while editing the photo without losing precious detail).

It’s also important to get close to the subject you’re shooting, rather than relying on your camera’s zoom. Unlike the optical zoom of old-school cameras, which physically moved the camera lens, digital zoom fakes it by enlarging the pixels in the image. As much as the digital technology improves year over year, it still pales in comparison to actually getting close and personal with the subject – and you can always cut down your image to “zoom” after the fact. Getting close and playing with angles, as well as your points of focus, will net better results than zooming in from afar.

As with anything, the most surefire way to get better at ski photos is practice and experimentation. Thankfully, we aren’t beholden to the 23 shots that used to fit on a roll of film – you can capture dozens or hundreds of images on a phone without worrying about space (although battery life is a ski-specific concern, as it drains much faster in the cold). Keep these basics in mind, and you’ll be getting images that capture the excitement and dynamism of skiing.

Josh Christie is the author of four books, most recently “Skiing Maine,” and co-owner of Print: A Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Portland. He also writes about beer, books and the outdoors.