chrisparry

Spectacular Matterhorn

Canon EOS 7D

settings

Aperture f/9.0 ISO 125 Shutter 1/400

upload_date

Aug, 2013

Views

1499

Likes

+92

Awards

Featured

Contest Finalist in Landmarks Photo Contest

Peer Award

+28

Superb Composition

+10

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

All Star

Exceptional Contrast

Magnificent Capture

Jaw Dropping

Outstanding Creativity

Superior Skill

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Top 10 rank week 1

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PRO+

excellent shot

Very Dramatic! Love it! Keep them coming Chris!!

Just excellent......

Beautiful B & W ....voted

Simply stunning!

PRO+

Amazing photo! Congrats! :)

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Behind The Lens

Location

The Matterhorn is located in the Alps on the Swiss/Italian border (Monte Cervino to the Italians). At over 14,500 feet, with its distinct pyramidic shape, it is probably the world's most recognised mountain. Avid consumers of Toblerone chocolate will be familiar with its inclusion in the chocolate bars logo (without the bear which relates to Bern, the Swiss city where Toblerone is produced). With the Swiss preference to tunnel under pretty much anything immovable (why go around, when we can go through?),access to this view doesn't demand hours of scrambling up steep slopes. You catch the Gornergrat railway that slowly climbs up from Zermatt, exposing increasingly dramatic and ever changing views as you progress skywards out of the valley. On arrival (at around 10,000 ft) it is just a short (albeit breathless) walk.

Time

Early afternoon

Lighting

More about location of the sun (and hence time of day), ensuring that there are limited large areas of dark shadow and at the same time getting emphasis on the crags and crannies to bring out the texture. This required that the sun is a very acute angle to the mountain face. Note that the image is taken looking westwards.

Equipment

Used a Canon 7D with 70 - 200 mm lens. I wanted an image that contrasted the softness of the clouds whilst maintaining some detail (the clouds were whizzing past at a 100 mph), with the stark detail of the terrain. Therefore used a medium aperture and relatively short exposure.

Inspiration

This mountain is iconic and I was there. One can't fail to be inspired by the beauty of Alps generally (and one of the reasons why I live there).

Editing

All that was required was a little attention to contrast in Lightroom and done.

In my camera bag

Generally, a Canon 5D MkIII, a Canon EF 28 - 300 mm zoom, a Canon EF 16 - 35mm zoom and a Canon EF 100mm Macro, plus a Speedlite 580 EX 11 and lastly a Manifrotto tripod. Alot to carry, so the Gorillapod becomes chosen company more often and not.

Feedback

I have grown to understand that time of day, angle of the sun and orientation of the subject is so important in landscape work. If one is therefore going to go to all the expense and effort, it is worth pre-planning what one wants to try to achieve in your photography with maps, Google Earth etc in front you.

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chrisparry

chrisparry

Spectacular Matterhorn

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow chrisparry

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