Taking Great Shots of Mountains

How are most mountain photos taken? From the ground. Probably from a standing position, and if you want your photos of mountains to look like everybody else’s (boring), then do that. Shoot up at the mountains. But if you want to make more dramatic, compelling mountain images, don’t stand there shooting up. Your images will have so much more impact if you can shoot the mountains from up in the mountains themselves. That way, you’re either shooting across at them, or maybe even down at them. This is a view you don’t see nearly as often, and that’s what makes it much more interesting—and no, you don’t have to climb a mountain to take these shots. Oftentimes, you can literally drive up them to lookout points and overlooks that give you a totally different perspective. I’ve taken ski lifts and cable cars to get up to some wonderful observation decks, and on a winter’s day, the clear air is just amazing for landscape photography. This is the type of thing you want to research before you go out shooting, so you can see if there are high views where you can shoot without long hikes or scaling the side of a mountain (unless, of course, you love long hikes or scaling mountains. If that’s the case, you’re going to have some great shooting opportunities). Also, as an added tip: don’t just “go wide.” Pull out your longer lens for some great shots of mountain tops—it can create some really dramatic looks.