The rule of thirds

When composing an image, we are often inclined to place the main subject, be it a peak, a person, or a prayer flag, right in the middle of the frame. While this can work at times, as evidenced by Steve McCurry’s iconic portraits, it often leaves the image feeling dull. A quick and easy remedy for this, which will liven up your images and your composition, is to use the rule of thirds. The technique is simple: divide your image into thirds and place your main subject in the left or right, top or bottom third of the image instead of in the middle. This simple technique, a small change in position, creates energy and movement in the image and a captivating, dynamic composition.

Leapfrog!!

Let’s face it: buttshots just don’t work. Sure, they’re easy to create: You see your friend climbing above you, pull out your camera, and snap a picture. However, what comes out is often devoid of emotion, as the climber’s face, the part that shows the emotion of him and tells the most about the scene, is hidden. So, from now on, remember that childhood game of jumping frog. As an expedition photographer, whether on top of Everest or Mount Rainier, I’m always playing hopscotch with my subjects. I start the day ahead of them, get into a good position with a dramatic setting to take a picture, set up, shoot as they pass me, pack up, pass them and set up another shot further up the mountain. It’s not easy, but it makes a difference. If they’re tethered together, don’t worry: wait until it’s safe (at a break or when someone is safely tethered) and take pictures that way. Just avoid the infamous butt shots please!

more is not always better

Our eyes, working in conjunction with our brain, are amazing devices. In the blink of an eye, we can scroll through a scene, select the interesting parts, and zoom in on them in our brain while still seeing the whole view. However, with still images, we often need to help our viewer not get distracted and focus on the best part of a scene. And often it does nothing for our image other than detract from it…and we’re better off doing more with less. To do this, use a zoom lens to bring an interesting subject more fully into the frame…or use that tried-and-true old tool: your legs. Yes, that’s right, if your lens doesn’t get you close enough to your subject for the framing to be visually appealing, zoom in, compose, and shoot. It’s all in perspective!

PANORAMA

The northeast ridge of Everest from Camp VI on the North Face. It’s an iconic view of an iconic place, but one whose magnitude and awe-inspiring nature is impossible to capture on a frame of film (or a sensor). Take multiple frames and stitch them together using panoramic software. Take multiple frames of your future panorama, overlapping the edges of each image by at least 25%. Later, you can use one of the many panorama stitching programs available through a Google search, or if you have Adobe Photoshop, use their built-in program Photomerge to stitch the images together – works wonders! Here are a couple of tips to make your panoramas even better:

one. Watch out for distortion: Many wide-angle lenses show some distortion at the edges of the frame; this is easily seen when a straight line is placed on the sides of the frame and it is bent or bowed. Make sure the lens you are using is either free of distortion (not fisheye for a fixed focal length lens) or magnified enough to eliminate any distortion on a telephoto lens.

2. use a tripod: Taking a panorama, and stitching it together effectively afterwards, requires precision that’s hard to achieve without a tripod, especially if you’re standing on wobbly rocks and breathing hard. Therefore, use a tripod (or a hard, immovable surface such as rock) to ensure that the panorama plane remains constant throughout all frames.

3. lock your exposure: As you move from one shot to another in your panorama, the lighting in the scene will inevitably change. If you leave your camera in program mode, it will find the best exposure for each frame, sometimes resulting in drastic changes in lighting from the first frame to the last… and making it impossible to stitch them together afterwards. The solution is to first pan around the panorama, taking note of the recommended exposures from your camera’s meter. Then find a happy medium between the range of f/stops and apertures. Lock this exposure setting in manual mode and shoot!

Four. Lock your white balance: Like the exposure above, your white balance will adjust as you move the camera around the shot, sometimes with problematic results. Be sure to lock your white balance to the proper setting: sunlight, cloud, custom, etc.

Have camera…will get shot

Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how often people leave their camera behind (and, of course, lose footage) or have it so out of reach that it’s too difficult (or too dangerous) to get it out when that happens. the perfect moment arises. For example, take May 1, 1999: I crossed the north face of Everest to where Conrad Anker was standing on the remains of George Mallory. The scene I walked into was perfect: I pulled out my camera, took a few frames, and within seconds Conrad was looking in a different direction and the moment was gone. If my camera hadn’t been close at hand, the moment would have been lost… forever. My solution is to always keep my camera in a fanny pack (I use a MountainSmith Aurora II) facing forward. In that package is my camera, spare lenses, batteries and cards, plus a couple of activated hand warmers so everything works fine when I want to shoot.

Stop!

As good as modern digital cameras are, they are still lacking in some areas, especially in the realm of outdoor and expedition photography. A common problem occurs when shooting in snowy conditions: lots of bright targets contrast sharply against deep blue skies and dark rocks. It basically fools most of the sensors and if left to their own devices the cameras will create images with muted reflections; that is, the snow will be blaring white with little to no detail. The solution is to manually set the exposure compensation to underexpose the image by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop (-0.3 to -0.7 on most cameras). Lock this setting on your camera and shoot in any shooting mode and your photos will come out detailed in highlights (snow) while still being good in darker areas.

Stuff it!

Another common problem you face when shooting on expeditions is a climber against a snowy background or bright sky. Take a photo without compensating for the backlight and you’ll most likely end up with a properly exposed background and a dark, underexposed main subject. To fix this, use some fill flash. But, don’t flash and shoot… Speedlights are calibrated to balance a subject for daylight conditions, and doing so will splash too much light on your subject and make it look unnatural. Go to your flash settings and, as with the exposure compensation above, manually stop the flash output. I usually keep my flash stopped between -0.7 and -1.0 (2/3 to an end point) and sometimes go even lower depending on the situation. Play around with it and remember that the adage film is cheap – this truism becomes even more true with digital!

sun star

One of my favorite techniques when shooting on expeditions is shooting directly into the sun, but getting the results you want can be frustrating. However, if done correctly, the result is a dramatic image with the sun (or any bright, point light source) turned into a dazzling star. For it to work, you need to be able to set your aperture manually (not possible on many point-and-shoot cameras). Set your aperture to f-16 or higher; Generally speaking, the larger the aperture (the smaller the light entry hole), the better for this output. Then, with your camera in manual mode, compose your image and bring the exposure ½ to 1½ stops underexposed by adjusting the shutter speed accordingly. Take a frame and make sure the sun is highlighted the way you want it and the rest of your image is properly exposed as well.

zoom in or back

As I mentioned earlier, perspective is everything. You can turn a drab image into a stellar one… or turn what could be a great shot into another snapshot. So try a different perspective by using your legs to move and by using different glasses to change the view. Sometimes a shot requires a wide angle of view to show all of the big view, while other times it may need to be very narrow to emphasize detail. In my expedition kit, I always look for a balance between versatility and weight; It’s not always an easy balance, but with modern equipment and a few dollars, it’s doable. Being a Nikon shooter, I always go with Nikon lenses. My standard kit includes my Nikon 10.5mm DX Fisheye for wide-angle shots and the 18-200mm DX VR telephoto for a wide range of focal lengths. In my backpack is my big gun: a Nikon 80-400mm telephoto VR lens…heavy, but quite useful. With that 3-lens combination, I can go from an ultra-wide fisheye perspective to an incredibly close one with the 400mm (which, on a Nikon DSLR sensor is equivalent to 600mm on a 35mm camera, powerful enough to to bring the summit of Everest up close in a personal way). from base camp!). Furthermore, we can create unique images simply by moving our cameras and our bodies. Lie down on the ground and shoot up into the sky, or go a little higher and shoot from a bird’s eye view.

try a little of everything

While today’s equipment is incredible, the best photography requires a combination of equipment and personal vision. Rarely does a simple point-and-shoot image appear on the cover of National Geographic. So try a little of everything on your next outing or expedition. Have fun, play. Figure out what story you want to tell and then decide which images will best tell that story. The best chance is often the one you decided not to do!