Download - Tips - Mountain Landscapes 4 - Alpine Scenes
-
8/10/2019 Tips - Mountain Landscapes 4 - Alpine Scenes
1/2
If youre lucky enough to be atop of a snowy
mountain on a clear day, rather than capturing the
whole scene before you, zoom in and look for the
most interesting shapes for a composition that will
have more impact. We zoomed in on a valley with
mountain edges leading in from right and left. Most
important of all, there was lots of sidelight and
shadows without this, there would be no depth and
dimension to the scene Untouched snow will also add
Alpine scenes
A
lthough winter will ensure a heavy
snowfall on most mountains, if youhead to the high 3000m-plus alpine
peaks, youll find theyre capped with
snow most of the year round. Even
a dusting of white on the mountaintops
will instantly transform your shots,
reminding viewers that these are big
and foreboding peaks. Look for rockyoutcrops that are lit by the sunlight,
and try and shoot on clear days as the
unpolluted sky is never bluer than in the
mountains, and this contrasts brilliantly
with the white and grey textures.
Make sure your photos have the white stuff
Sidelight & shadows
-
8/10/2019 Tips - Mountain Landscapes 4 - Alpine Scenes
2/2
When in mountain villages or valleys, thepeaks are likely to be further away, so use atelephoto lens to zoom in for a better frame-filling
shot. Experiment with composition shooting
at 100mm, we tried a juxtaposition of the hotel
building in Chamonix with the Aiguilles dArves
mountain range in the distance, then zoomed
in to the mountain peak at 250mm, placing it to
the right with space on the left and with a hint
smaller peaks in shot. Avoid using wide apertu
(eg f/5.6) as when focusing on the foreground
building, the background mountains would be
blurred out of focus. Instead use an aperture
around f/11; in the sunny alps your shutter spe
should then be around 1/250 sec, and fast
enough to shoot handheld.
Scale and surroundings
Try adding something in your mountain scenes to give themcontext and a sense of scale, such as the cable cars in our
example. The bright red cable car in the foreground draws you in
then the swooping, curving cables lead the eye up through the
clouds to the second cable car, and beyond to the platform right
the top of the mountain. We also went for a vertical composition t
emphasise the steepness and height of the mountain face, and u
the rule of the thirds, placing the cable car on the left and mounta
ridge on the bottom right and mountain peak top right.
Zoom in and out for different views
Lens:Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L I
Exposure:1/500 sec at f/9; I
100mm 250mm