Scene Photography in the Mountains

One of the most difficult things in capturing mountains on film is trying to fit this huge view into a tiny viewfinder. Since most of us only have one lens, we must learn to utilize this limitation. The key is to capture tiny vignettes of the environment. Don't try to capture everything in one image. Light is the basic tool of photography; you have three main categories of light on any landscape. Light quality is the first. Is the light soft (overcast), or harsh (sunny)? The second is light direction. Is it coming from the side, the front, or the back of the mountain? The last is light temperature. Is it warm sunrise light, blue light at dusk, or the neutral light of mid-day?

By now you know getting great photographs of mountains is all about lighting. Because you can't move mountains around, you are the one that has to move. Mountains are by nature photogenic, but it is not always easy to capture their beauty in a photograph. First you need to find the optimum viewpoint, from which the angle it is best to show the desired lighting effect. Pictures of mountains will have several viewpoints from which very interesting images can be captured. It is very important to think and photograph creatively. Mountain photography needs two kinds of responses, immediate reactions and long periods of wait. It also tends to be leisurely and decisive in the sense that you recognize what you want to photograph. This is where you need to experiment with several viewpoints.