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

Shooting into the sun

As it is sunny weather today I thought some web resource on how to shoot great pictures directly into the sun could be valuable.

Usually we are told at photography school to always make sure the sun is in our back while shooting. Reason for that is mainly the automatic exposure metering which gets confused if exposed to such high contrast sceneries with direct sunlight and harsh shadows.

However, knowing how to play with exposure  and fill lights shooting directly into the sun can lead to very creative special effects, creative image composition, and images rich in contrast and color dynamics.

Here a how-to at digital-photography-school:
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-shoot-in-direct-sunlight/

What makes a photographer when everyone is taking pictures

With an increasing amount of photographs being taken and shared over electronic media every day the professional profile of a photographer changes.
Smartphone cameras have become decently good to take high quality pictures under good light conditions. Everybody is carrying such a camera around. - "The best camera is the one that is with you." - And everybody can take a good shot at the right moment.

So what makes the difference. - The difference is in image composition, light control, and repeatability.

#airportcarpet

The fascinating world of airportcarpets!

For a selection of the world's airport carpets follow this Facebook link: https://m.facebook.com/hashtag/airportcarpet

Courage to handling complexity

FUJIFILM Corporation announces price increase of photographic films.

FUJIFILM Corporation announces price increase of photographic films.: FUJIFILM Corporation has announced that it will implement a worldwide price increase for its photographic films. The price increases are substantial and it would be an increase of at least double digit, but will vary depending on products, markets and regions.

Black and White Tokyo Photography

Alone - Arts Chien (flickr)

Tokyo subway scene - Piero Damiani (flickr)

Alley - Satoshi Inagaki (500px)

Yakitori - Marco Patella (500px)

Black Tea - Olivier Cruciata (500px)