Landscape Photography

[unfazed]

Avalanches thurndering down the Lho-La pass at Everest Base Camp, sound was awesome. 

[nick crisp]

I'm guessing there's a sizeable bergschrund between the avalanche cones and the foreground moraine? Otherwise, I reckon the base camp latrines got filled pretty quickly right around then...... :lol

[unfazed]

Especially by those closest to it. The bergschrund was not that large, but we did not go to measure it :lol Our tents were half a mile form the biggest one and we felt the wind blast, there were latrines filled that morning :rollin the sound was awesome as it echoed across the Khumbu.
Here is one of me trying to sort out the battery charging with solar panels and generators.

[nick crisp]

Were you there to climb?

[unfazed]

Nick,
No, technical support, did not have the €30000 + required to do it. An amazing place, and spent 6 weeks fixing things like generators, charging systems, communications equipment, laptops, solar panels and anything else that came my way, for some of the teams out there. They were impressed with my theory on repairs, "if its broken the worst you can do is fix it, as you can't break whats already broken". Did managed to get in some rock and ice climbs there. Have you been there?

[nick crisp]

No, more's the pity, never been anywhere like that, Unfazed. Wish I could have. I read a lot about climbing, exploration and travel and have always wanted to see these places for myself, but I've had to settle for the kinder hills of Britain so far. Might be able to rectify that a little next year; a trip to alpine regions on the cards. Would love to trek in the Karakoram, but probably won't happen now. Definitely gonna learn to climb in my next life!  :lol

[VNA]

I quite like reading about climbing, got Learning to Breath by Andy Cave to Read just now.

Just about finished Cairngorm John, about John Allen's 30 year involvement in mountain rescue in The Cairngorms, a good read for anybody who goes walking in the Scottish hills.

Everest looks amazing.  I've seen quite a few documentaries about it, including the one the other night Words of Everest, focusing on archive footage, photos and in particular private memoirs and letters of both the failed Mallory attempt (though of course nobody knows whether he made the top or not) and the successful Hillary climb.  Not read anything about the mountain though.

A fascinating but strange place.  But even if I had the money and/or the ability to get up there I wouldn't want to.  Just don't fancy sleeping in those grave yard rubbish dumps.  Sort of feel it's a mountain, a wild place that's not given it's respect.  Just a personal feeling, but I still find it fascinating that people want to go to the top.  I'm too old now anyway.

Forecast is not great up here this weekend Nick.  Could head out but my priority is seeing what there is to see.  Just got to be patient and wait for those breaks in the weather.  Will probably force myself up my usual hill to keep my legs ticking over.

Me forcing myself up the usual hill;

[nick crisp]

Yes, I know exactly where you're coming from re. Everest (Chomolungma sounds much more exotic and enticing anyway!). It's just a "tick-list" item for the well-to-do these days, because of the sheer cost of it all. It's a very contentious subject, especially since that disaster some years ago (documented, some say controversially, by Jon Krakauer - which really brought it to public attention). And unfortunately, K2 seems to have followed in it's tracks somewhat, although because of the sheer technical difficulty of the latter, maybe it'll never get so bad as far as commercialism is concerned.
I don't see any reason why experienced climbers shouldn't push new routes in such places, the problem is with the commercial guiding companies, who sometimes seem not to care if their clients are mentally and physically "right" for such a challenge - as a challenge it will always remain while there are storms, avalanches, oxygen deprivation and the risks of oedema, etc - but only seem to be interested in the profits to be made.
For me, it would be more about trekking in those regions, and especially with the camera. I would never pay such a commercial outfit to get to the top. I think Reinhold Messner has a good philosophy on such things - if you are not skilled enough or fit enough to rise to the challenge, what are you doing there in the first place?

Andy Cave - he was the coal miner, wasn't he? A great story. From the deepest depths to the highest heights! My climbing collection is pretty big these days - just bought Savage Arena by Joe Tasker and Sacred Summits by Pete Boardman, 2 of the greatest climbers Britain ever produced, and love to read about that golden age of the Brits headed by such characters as Whillans, Haston , Scott, Bonington etc. Also I read the classics of the pioneers like Whymper, Bonatti, Harrer and others - different times!

But I love the photography people produce too - such deep blue skies, alpenglow on a vast Himalayan peak, precipitous valleys and raging torrents - this is why I would go to such places - to see and photograph all this!

[VNA]

Chomolungma is the correct name, and aye so much better.

I do like your shot of Fleetwith Pike Nick.

Yup seems to be if you are very reasonably fit, for a price they'll check the ropes and the ladders and drag you up there.

But it's also into a place where you cannot survive, simply not enougth oxygen, if you make it to the top you are effectively dying, and if you turn for the worst, other than trying to drag you down there's not much anybody can do for you.  And if you do succumb you will forever be on that mountain perfectly preserved and often lying there for all that follow to see.

Some of the Sherpas can apparently (correct me if I am wrong) get from base camp, to the summit and back without oxygen within a day. 

I like the rule of leave nothing but foot steps.  But I'm just a walker of wee hills. 

Yeah that Andy Cave was a miner, and was a miner through the strike of the 80's, partly attracted me to the book.

Just waiting for the right weather, this was just a few weeks ago, 11th October this year;

[nick crisp]

Crystal clarity in that shot VNA. I guess partly the camera work and partly just that kind of day in the Highlands?
That's something I can't achieve with my compact, and so perhaps a good reason to upgrade one day.

At the other end of the scale, here's one taken whilst headed towards the top of Grasmoor - it might be entitled "Into the Smoky Distance"!
Second shot is of Catbells - the first hill on many a Lakeland walkers tick list. Not high, but a lovely ridge to walk. This was actually early springtime - I'd love to visit with the camera in the autumn, as from photos I've seen, the colours are stunning at that time of year. I didn't manage anything spectacular with this shot, but just liked the sunlit greens and browns.

And lastly, again, no photographic skill in evidence, but Blencathra looking moody - taken from a commercial campsite I used a couple of times.

[VNA]

Nice moody shots Nick.

The weather was perfect that day I was up Aonach Beag and Aonach Mor.  Visibility was perfect, could just about see England from up there.

So yeah the right day, the right conditions help big time.  Going into winter I always think can help, visibility improves (on still days), the snow reduces contrast between land and sky (though bear in mind in built camera meters don't understand snow!), the low sun makes everything look more dramatic.  The downside is the big shadows the low sun can create, finding the sun getting in the way of your shot, flare, and of course the cold and short days!  Downside with the snow is all that light reflecting about the place, that can be dealt with a polarising filter but that means taking off gloves and mucking about - frozen hands and being late off the hill etc.  The polarisor only works at 90 degrees to the sun, so for wide shots it has to come back off.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Weather has been generally miserable up here since I took those Aonach shots, only the baggers and crazy folks will be oot on the hills at the mo I would think.  Peeved off.

Sure a good camera and lens helps.  But don't forget the old rule, better gear won't make you a better photograher. 

Understanding exposure, which is so much easier these days with digital cameras (if your camera displays a histogram then pay attention to it).  Exposure is simple as there are only three variables shutter speed, aperture and film speed.  Composition - read up on rule of thirds and play about with it, and a little post processing to finish it all off. 

There's loads of good digi cams out there these days for not a lot of money.  A free raw processor and maybe a copy of photoshop elements or something and you are in business.

Aonach Beag;  11th October 2013

[fazersharp]

I feel that most (not all ) landscape photographs are better suited to a more rectangle shape, but due the the cameras sensor size/shape you have no choice - but you can crop later.
I hpoe that you do not mind Devilsyam but I have used one of yours to demonstrate some cropping- I have also given it a tweek, but you may not like it as you wre the photographer and were the real witness to the view. If you dont like it then I apologise and will remove it

[VNA]

Rectangular shape?  As opposed to square?

The 6x6 format used to very popular with Landscape and portrait photographers, presumably still is.

The format of your camera does tend to influence  how you take shots.  So it's not so easy to take square shots with a say 135 format camera.
Which is one of the things I find weird about modern digital cameras, that is that most of them are based on the proportions of the rather awkward 135 film format.

Thought not everybody went in that direction, Olympus, who often go their own way, not only went for a smaller sensor for it's 'serious' cameras but adopted the much more natural  4/3rds proportions .

And don't forget to turn the camera on it's side if it's gonna give a better composition.

[nick crisp]

Posted before, but this shot from Glen Shiel is one of my few that I felt suited a more vertical format. I think it will always depend on the subject. Instinctively, with landscape, usually I think I would shy away from a completely square frame. And sometimes, I think even vertical subjects can work better in a horizontal frame, like the second shot here - although the foreground hill is quite vertical;, I wanted some of the much more level ridge in the background:

[nick crisp]

Another little thing I tend to borrow from painting technique, is not to put the subject dead centre of shot; I wonder if that's what you were thinking when you cropped Devilsyam's shot, Fazersharp? Also, it's usually best to keep horizon lines or strong horizontal or vertical lines away from where they will divide the shot perfectly in 2.
The off-centre subject I hope is illustrated in this shot:

[devilsyam]

[nick crisp]

I can't view all that at once Luke - can you resize it?

[Phil]

I bought a Canon G12 compact as it is a lot smaller than a DSLR for touring on the bike and it has a lot of manual control. Shutter speeds down to 15 seconds, spot metering, manual flash, picture formats 16:9 3:2 4:3 1:1 4:5. 1 problem I found with compacts is the minimum aperature of f8, not much good for shots of water with a slow shutter speed for blur. So Canon put in a ND *4 in it. It even takes videos.
Costs more than some DSLRs though.


Square photos

[VNA]

Yeah the G series is a good choice.  I think it recently got a decent size (physically) sensor, rather than the compact sized sensors the early G's had.  So it's even better than better.  Definitely handy cameras.

Rule of thirds Nick, just google 'rule of thirds', you should find endless articles.  Look for multiple thirds.  If you look at the work of the classic old snapper Henri Cartier-Bresson you'll find his images always follow the rule of thirds, however what you find with Henri is more often than not his images have multiple thirds.  Multiple thirds is eye tennis.  Though don't forget, it's a rule, and rules exist to be broken.

Vertical shots, and Glen Shiel?

Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe;





Beinn Chabhair  2nd of march 2013,

I thought the winter was over, the snow was thawing out fast.  I packed my axe and crampons just in case, but this is up around the summit.  I decided that winter must be drawing to a close. 

How wrong I was.  A couple of weeks later there was deep snow right down into the Glens and passes, so much so it wasn't even worth thinking about trying to get up a big hill.

[nick crisp]

Love the way that melting snow leads the eye in to the peaks in the background.
I will have to look up that rule of thirds - all my composition tips come from landscape painting! Ah, but having said that, thinking about it, it sounds like it might be akin to the guide I already use - divide horizontal and vertical planes into 3 equal sections, don't have subject in the centre square/rectangle, but more on the intersection of the lines? (4 points).