Mountain landscapes

The view
from the top!
Dont just shoot peaks, shoot from them

f course, one of the best bits of

being up in the mountains is the
spectacular views you get from the top.
Although its tempting to try and include
the entire vista you can take in with your
eyes, unfortunately this would result in a
rather big, empty shot on your camera.
For more successful shots of views,
concentrate on the most interesting
parts of the scene. For our example,

Exposure: 1/15 sec at f/18; ISO100

Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

38 | PhotoPlus October 2014

shooting at the optimum light just after

sunset, we opted for the lake highlighted
by the remnants of the setting sun, and
filling the frame with brilliantly colourful
sky, topped by moody and threatening
clouds. Underexpose your sunset shots,
exposing for the highlights in the sky,
rather than the darker land mass this
will turn them into silhouettes, but will
improve your shots.

The view from the top!

Shoot at sunset
W

e often talk about the best light for

shooting landscapes, and with good
reason; it can make a huge difference to
your results if you shoot at right time of day.
Taking a picture in the middle of the day will
result in a dull, lifeless shot with an empty,
pale sky. Wait until after sunset and, if youre
lucky with the clouds and colours, youll
capture a much more atmospheric and
colourful shot under the softer post-sunset
light. Choose a warm white balance setting,
such as Cloudy or Shade, to bring out the
most in the colours. For our example, the
lower light levels have also helped achieve
a slow shutter speed of 3 secs, which has
smoothed out the waters nicely. Also note
how weve anchored our composition with
the forest across the bottom of the frame.

Sunset: Spot on!

early Daytime

Last light
Y

ou can take some truly stunning shots from mountains at

last light, as the sun is going down and highlighting the
landscape below. Underexpose as you would for a sunset, and
use an ND grad filter if the setting sun is extra bright to avoid
overexposing that part of your shot. For our Raw shot we then
used Adobe Camera Raws Adjustment Brush (set to Exposure
+75 and Shadows +20) in Photoshop CC, to lighten the darker
middle areas in the land. You can achieve similar results using
the Dodge tool in Photoshop Elements. n

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