8/10/2019 Tips - Mountain Landscapes 4 - Alpine Scenes

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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

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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