Tutorial: Take Better Photos in the Mountains – Part 1

Take Better Photos in the Mountains – Part 1: Like many “pros” out there, I’m a self-taught photographer—after all photography itself is not that complicated. Over the years I’ve become a lot more efficient at capturing…

Timelapse Photography: Lights over Switzerland

Lights over Switzerland II - by Christoph Schlatter

Lights over Switzerland II - Timelapse from Christoph Schlatter on Vimeo.

Scenic Places in Black and White - Matterhorn

Zermatt in Switzerland is one of these places in the Swiss Alps that offers endless opportunities to enjoy the scenic mountain panorama.

Recently I spent a weekend on the Riffelalp, the Gornergrat side above Zermatt. From this location there is one of the most spectacular view on the iconic Matterhorn.
Taking the train to the Gornergrat is one thing not to miss. From the Gornergrat Kulm one can experience an exceptional panorama on the Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and plenty of other 4000 m.a.s.l high peaks of the Swiss alps.

Opportunities for iconic pictures can be found at the Riffelsee. A little lake embedded in-between two mountain rims with usually mirroring clear surface in which the Matterhorn is reflected.

It is possibly one of the most touristic shots. Thousands of international tourists per year in search of typical pictures. Here another representative in black and white taken on a beautiful morning this summer.

Best time to go is in the morning since then the sun illuminates the Matterhorn from the front. A scenic place for landscape photography.

Photography of Switzerland

Given by the diverse topography of the Swiss landscape, Switzerland offers endless possibilities for landscape photographers. All in close distance there are possibilities of shooting mountain landscapes, agricultural flat plains, cities, lakes, rivers, ...

A few examples can be found in the blog post by Martin Bisaz at downgrade.com.

Matterhorn - Black & white film photography

From my recent trip to Zermatt area in Switzerland I brought back a series of exposed medium format films of the Matterhorn. For these black and white images I was using a Lomography Earl Gray 100 black and white film.

It was an experiment. I was using Ilford and Kodak film for black and white before. But this film, I could recommend using it. I certainly will.

Matterhorn - Winter landscape photography

Matterhorn (4478 m.a.s.l): here some documentary photos from my recent photography trip (see post from Saturday January 17th) to Gornergrat Kulm in Zermatt.

I took not only my DSLR equipment with me but also my 1976 Hasselblad 500 c/m with different film. The film is still waiting to be developed.





It was a day with beautiful weather, bright sunlight, blue sky, but still some clouds to make the sky more interesting.

Temperature was -17 °C and the wind made it feel even colder. These conditions made manipulating the cameras and taking pictures not easier.

Technically cameras all worked very well under these conditions. For the analog work I had a bit of problems with my vintage Yashica exposure meter where the exposure needle reacted a bit sluggish and I was not very sure about correct readings.

The bright light reflected from the snow, or direct sunlight made exposure metering very difficult. But I hope to have picked the right settings for good results. Once the films are developed we will know more.

For digital especially changing lenses was difficult. There were always little snow crystals in the air which would absorb on the mirror and lenses and on the inside of the camera body. In consequence some of my digital images got quite a bit of dust - or snow - spots which needed to be retouched.
I experienced similar issues when travelling in very dry areas with dust. However, it was easier to handle these.

I wonder how this can be overcome?

For a collection of images visit the image gallery at andreasrmueller.com.

Matterhorn - Zermatt - Images by Andreas Mueller

Matterhorn - Landscape Photography

The Matterhorn is one of the most iconic mountain peaks of the Swiss Alps. It is probably also the mountain in the Swiss Alps where you could find most photographs taken of.

Next weekend I am going to visit Zermatt and the Gornergrat. I hope to get some decent shots of the Matterhorn and its surroundings. - Hopefully the weather is in favour.

My usual search for "Matterhorn" on 500px.com yields a huge number of very impressive images.

Mountain Fog - Landscape Photography

The Swiss Alps from Rigi Kaltbad, Nikon D4

On the left one of my own images shot at Rigi Kaltbad in Central Switzerland on an October evening moments after sunset.

The fog filling up the valley and covering the lake Lucerne like a fluid, the nice textured mountains with first snow in the background, and the red glowing sky.

Sunset behind Mt. Pilatus from Rigi Kulm,
Hasselblad 500c/m, Fujichrome Velvia 100

The beauty of the landscape just shot at the right moment.

More pictures from the same location at link.


On the right a picture shot on film showing the Mount Pilatus at the horizon the last second before sunset. In the foreground the western side of Mount Rigi and in between sculptures of fog like the sea in a heavy storm.

In these two images the fog gives an interesting structure towards the topological bottom of the captured landscape and guides the interest to whatever remains on top of the fogs' surface.

The experienced weather conditions with lower altitude landscape covered in fog and sunny bright weather at upper altitude levels is very typical for the autumn and winter months in Central Switzerland.

More images from the same trip using my analog film setup at link.
And some digital captures at link.

Another simple search for images tagged with "Mountain Fog" in the landscape photography category of 500px.com yields some very interesting photos of mountain landscape under foggy weather conditions.

Before Sunrise by Martin Vaculìk (500px)

Some of them are very similar than the ones presented above with glowing sky, the contrast of the mountains with the sea of fog.

Cloudy Day in Guilin, Gunxi, China
by Mihail Dinichenko (500px)

And other images show more mountain landscape where the foggy weather condition adds a mystical element to the image.

The Art of Light by Matteo Zanvettor (500px)

The fog gives rise to a visual effect that lets these pictures almost look like in watercolour paintings applying soft tonalities of pastel color and some black to add the necessary contrast of the mountain landscape as silhouettes.

The Swiss Alps

One of the last winter days in the Swiss Jura. Remaining snow and a beautiful view towards the Swiss Alps.

View from Waldweid in direction of the Gotthard massif.

Wintertime - Mount Rigi, Switzerland

Selected images from a photo excursion to Mount Rigi in Switzerland.
Mount Rigi offers a scenic 360° panorama of the Swiss alps, the lake Lucerne and central Switzerland. However, on this day the lake and midlands were covered by an endless ocean of fog. Only the tips of the mountains were facing the sunny weather and the blue sky.


Rigi wintertime - Images by Andreas Mueller

Swiss Skyline