photo by DieterMeyrl via iStock
Mountain landscape photography is a genre that is enjoyed by viewers and photographers alike…
There’s just something about a mountain scene that captures people’s attention. But how can we make sure our own mountain landscape photography elicits those types of reactions?
This guide walks you through a few mountain landscape photography tips that will help you create the most eye-catching photos.
Table of Contents
- Defining Mountain Landscape Photography
- Water and Sky In Mountain Landscape Photography
- Exposure Considerations for Mountain Landscape Photography
- Polarizer and GND Filters
- Incorporating People
- And the Rest…
- Recommended Landscape Photography Gear
Defining Mountain Landscape Photography
photo by EduLeite via iStock
When I look at mountain pictures I’ve taken or images from other photographers, I see two general types or styles of mountain landscape photography: Photos OF mountains and photos IN THE mountains.
photo by mbbirdy via iStock
Within these two very generalized types of mountain landscape photography, there can be a whole bunch of subcategories:
- Waterfalls are included in my categorizing
- Some wildlife images
- Wide-angle vistas
- Telephoto views
- Macro photography of mountain-specific plant life
- People interacting in the landscape
- Mountain sports and recreation
- And so on…
What usually comes to mind when people talk about mountain landscape photography are beautiful views of mountain scenes meant to be an artfully created and enjoyable image.
Pro Tip: Protect Yourself and Your Gear
If you've spent any amount of time in the mountains, you know that the weather can change in an instant. What begins as a sunny afternoon can turn into a downpour in a matter of moments. That means you need to be prepared to protect yourself and your gear from the elements. That's where GoShelter comes in!
GoShelter is a lightweight, easily portable self-shelter that offers water-resistant and wind-resistant features for your mountain photography outings.
The shelter is worn like a backpack and extends up and over your body and out away from your arms, too. This design gives you excellent freedom of movement and the ability to work hands-free. Without needing to hold an umbrella, you can use both your hands to use your camera gear and capture beautiful images.
GoShelter deploys in just seconds from its flat, collapsed, portable state. Simply unfold it like a set of reflectors, put the straps over your shoulders, and you're good to go! Then, when you no longer need it, collapse the GoShelter back down, slide it into the included fabric sling, and go about your business.
With highly adjustable straps, you can get a customized experience that fits your specific needs. There are many color options available as well, so you can tailor your shelter to your personal style while staying dry.
And with UV-resistant materials, the GoShelter makes a great sunshade, too! Its uses are virtually endless, but in each case, you get the same protection that makes your photography outings all the more comfortable!
Water and Sky in Mountain Landscape Photography
photo by bluejayphoto via iStock
Besides the mountain itself, two other aspects of mountain landscape photography to pay attention to are water and the sky included in the image.
First, let’s look at the sky. Weather in the mountains can change rapidly, regardless of season, and will vary from no clouds at all to big, puffy clouds against a blue sky or dark, ominous storm clouds. All of these can be enhanced by using the exposure and post-processing techniques we’ve learned.
A polarizer filter will also be a valuable resource when dealing with sky, clouds, and water in our mountain landscape photography. I’ll detail that a little later.
photo by spooh via iStock
Using elements of water in our mountain landscape photography can add lots of interest. Just look at how that image at the start of this subheading uses reflection from the water to double the mountain view.
photo by heyengel via iStock
A mountain lake, mountain stream, waterfall, or the ocean enhances the feelings we create with our mountain landscape photography, whether the feeling is tranquility, power, or something in between.
Learn More:
Exposure Considerations for Mountain Landscape Photography
photo by AlbertoLoyo via iStock
Exposure calculations for mountain landscape photography can be a little tricky. Two main difficulties are exposing property for snow and taming dynamic range issues.
photo by mmac72 via iStock
Snow does an interesting thing with regard to exposure meters. It fools them. Even super sophisticated evaluative metering (Matrix metering, Smart metering) often gets fooled by large expanses of bright snowpack. Having a small patch of bright snow can also be problematic.
The way to fix this issue is to use exposure compensation. In all of the automatic modes plus manual metering, you set the exposure compensation to overexpose by 1 or 2 stops of exposure. The only auto exposure mode that won’t allow this adjustment is the Green Dot fully auto everything mode.
photo by OceanProd via iStock
The reason this +2 stops compensation works is because exposures are calibrated to 18 percent gray, also known as Middle Gray. When the scene elements are far removed from the middle, such as bright beach sand, bright snow, or a black cat in a coal mine, the meter will try to make those elements fit into 18 percent gray.
The second issue, dynamic range, is encountered when you have a large variation of lighting conditions with a scene. Imagine a common mountain landscape photography situation of bright daylight, puffy clouds, snowpack, dark trees, and areas of shadow under the trees or in parts of the rock formations not directly lit by sunshine.
Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be the dead of winter to have snow in a scene. Some mountains have a permanent snowcap all year round.
photo by bboserup via iStock
You can see how wide a range of light values exist in a scene by using your spot meter function and measuring each separate element. You could easily find 7, 8, or 10 or more stops of difference.
HDR photography, also known as bracket and merge, is one way to tame dynamic range issues in mountain landscape photography. One thing to be conscious of with HDR, since it involves multiple exposures with some longer shutter speeds, motion blur of clouds or water could happen. In many cases, though, that may actually work out in our favor.
Polarizer and GND Filters
photo by benedek via iStock
Certain accessories work well for capturing mountain landscape photography, such as circular polarizer (C-Pol) filters and graduated neutral density (GND) filters.
A C-Pol filter helps with contrasts from white clouds or snow packs to deep blue skies or dark green forests. They also remove glare and reflections from surfaces such as still water or plant leaves. Probably the best accessory you own for mountain landscape photography will be that circular polarizer.
photo by RomanKhomlyak via iStock
The reduction of contrast in scenes with large areas of plant life due to light scattering reflectivity from leaves is handled well by proper use of a polarizer filter. We sometimes forget about that specific benefit of polarizers since we hear so much about water reflections and deepening blue skies, but it is one of the important functions of a C-Pol filter.
If you don’t want to or can’t use HDR for dynamic range issues, a GND filter is very useful. One end of the filter is clear and the other dark, with either a hard or a soft edge of transition. A soft edge GND is often better for mountain landscape photography since it gives a smoother transition with the variation of terrain involved.
Incorporating People
photo by Kemter via iStock
An aspect of mountain landscape photography that we might overlook is including people or manmade objects into our images. While filming a skier might be more in the genre of action or sports photography, a ski lodge may add just the right touch to our mountain pictures.
photo by AscentXmedia via iStock
Hiking, camping, and fishing could also make a very interesting mountain scene. The people may not be the focus of the image, but incorporating them could make the scene more relatable to the viewer.
And the Rest…
photo by bjdlzx via iStock
There is a lot more that we could cover such as close-up telephoto views, macro photography, wildlife, and astrophotography, but this should give you some great ideas of what you can do with your own mountain landscape photography.
Stay tuned for more tips and ideas!
Recommended Landscape Photography Gear
- ND Filter Kit
- Canon EOS R5
- Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM
- Peak Design Travel Tripod
- Acratech GP-SS Ball Head
- Haida M10 Pro Filter Kit with Drop-In Circular Polarizer
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack V2
- Wireless Camera Remote