Mountain Photography: Tips and Tricks Part 1   by Sujoy Das

In the last couple of months, I have been receiving a lot of e-mails from photographers asking what equipment I use in the mountains and whether I have any special tips or techniques when shooting in the Himalaya. So this post covers some tips and tricks to get better photographs in the mountains.

Tip 1: Don’t keep your camera in the bag
Many photographers, n order to protect their equipment, keep it in a camera bag when they are out shooting. This is the wrong thing to do because invariably the moment will be gone by the time the camera is taken out of the bag! So keep the camera and one lens around your neck and keep the rest of the equipment in the bag to be used if needed. You will need to select that lens you want to use before starting out!

Tip 2: Simplify your equipment
I have seen a lot of photographers in the field with a full bag of lenses: wide angle, prime normal, zoom, telephoto etc. The problem of carrying such a lot of equipment is that you are invariably spoiled for choice and by the time you decide what to use the moment may have passed you once again! I recently did a seventeen day trek and photo assignment in the Everest region of Nepal. I carried a Nikon D90 body and a 16-85 Nikon VR lens. More than 90% of my photos were taken with this combination. In my backpack I had a Nikon D80 back up body with a 50 f 1.8 lens which was never used! And around my waist in a pouch I had a 70-300 Nikon VR lens which was used for the remaining 10% of the shooting. Having simplified the equipment I was not needed to make any choices and could concentrate on getting the photograph!

Tip 3: Shooting into the light
Mountains present a lot of opportunity for back lit photography. However the biggest enemy of backlit shooting is flare. So you need to protect you lens. How?
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