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johnphillips
mountain hut
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mountain hut



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cameraCanon EOS 5D Mark II

settings Aperture f/11.0 ISO 400 Shutter 1/500 Focal Length 16/1 

upload_dateJun, 2015

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4 Comments |
Tony-M
 
Tony-M November 20, 2016
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
Tony-M
 
Tony-M November 20, 2016
Great picture
Dollarshots
 
Dollarshots November 20, 2016
Cool
Luckyslady59 Ultimate
 
Luckyslady59 July 30, 2017
Wow amazing

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Tags

#b&w #hdr #Schopenhauer #italy #austria #landscape
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Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken high in the Dolomite in North Italy. The vantage, deep into the valley below the mountains, is offset by this cabin, which seems placed so that those who dwell there can feel as if they are on the top of the world.

Time

Hiking in the Dolomites takes all of a long summer day and this was mid morning. I love to be up here earlier in the morning and later in the evening but on this day the cloud cover was spectacular.

Lighting

The light, quite bright but filtered through the clouds and lighting them on the way, was caught by the masses of yellow flowers (Cytisus Sauzeanus?) in the meadow. The light also makes the best of texture of the wood on the cabin, the mountains in the background and of course the clouds. This is three exposures to get the most of the dynamic range.

Equipment

This is the Canon EOS 5D Mark II with the wide angle zoom (EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM). I had a tripod with me but for this shot I lay close to the ground. This camera was stolen the following year in Barcelona and I now use Fuji cameras but there's so much I miss about the heavier Canon gear.

Inspiration

In the Dolomites I look for the combination of elements (light, sky or clouds, mountainous background and something evocative and striking in the foreground (a jagged pathway, animals, cabins, trees and so on). The right combination gathered for this shot and I took several exposures.

Editing

Three exposures: -1/0/+2. Merged in Photoshop and tweaked in Lightroom. I have a finished photo in both colour and B&W. The B&W one seems to better bring out the qualities of the light. I made the conversion in Lightroom, attempting to create an even spread of tonal values, a rather classical feel.

In my camera bag

Either: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and two lenses (or more): EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM and EF and EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM. Sirui Tripod. Filters (Lee and others) Or: Fuji Xpro II and lenses: 16, 23, 50 (primes), and 55-200 zoom. Sirui Tripod and Filters. I have speedlights but seldom use them for this kind of shoot.

Feedback

Two things matter most in my limited experience: light and composition (I'm an amateur with limited time for photography and my best photo is a long way from where I am now). Once these two things come together a stunning photo is seemingly assured. The default for light would be early mornings or late afternoons. But as with this shot a good cloud cover later in the day can provide excellent and extraordinary light for that all important detail in long range landscape shots. The composition, once you have discovered it--a striking and eye catching foreground and sublime background--can take care of itself once you've set the camera on the tripod. A good set of filters makes a difference. I've experimented with polarizing filters to help bring out overly bright skies or neutral density filters of various strengths--I'm looking for a veritable glow coming from the ground and a deep and detailed background with a rich sky.

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