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It's autumn in the northern hemisphere (and there are plenty of great photos being posted) so I am going back today to the time we spent in the wonderful Swiss Alps at the end of October in 2019. The autumnal colours were on full display and the light was just perfect to photograph them. I took this photo at Grindjisee lake during our long hike through the mountains overlooking Matterhorn and Zermatt.
Matterhorn was the obvious focal point with its iconic shape and dominating presence over the surroundings but I was also looking in other directions for different compositions. It was not easy because I was naturally drawn back towards the majestic mountain. What made it a little harder to find a good composition was the presence of multiple cable car and ski lift towers around the area. Every time I thought I found something interesting, there were towers and overhanging cables to contend with. I had to choose to either live with the man made elements, clone them out later in processing or to look somewhere else. My aim is usually to minimise the amount of unnatural objects in my landscape photos, most preferably while still in the field. Saying that, there was plenty of great scenery to be found so this is not a complaint but rather just an explanation of my thought process.
When taking photos of Matterhorn being reflected in the waters of Grindjisee lake, I turned around and found this beautiful scene. The larch trees were lined up nicely along the shore with snow covered mountains providing a fantastic background. The trees stood out well against the mountains and I was looking for that tonal and textural separation to get a feeling of depth in the scene. The light was beautiful and soft and it was coming in from the side to the right of this scene. It further enhanced the depth in the landscape and allowed the orange tones to shine through. My preference is to photograph during the golden and blue hours of the day. However, as far as shooting during daylight goes, I could not ask for better conditions. The air was very crisp and clear while the thin cloud cover diffused the sunlight which helped to avoid harsh highlights and contrast.
Having already processed few photos from this day, I knew what I wanted to achieve in post processing. I worked mainly on contrast and depth through dodging and burning. This is my favourite technique to use and I feel that from the moment I embraced it, that really freed my artistic side and allowed me a lot more creativity and freedom when working on post production. I also worked on developing the tones here to ensure that the beautiful orange foliage came through the way I saw it in real life. One final adjustment I do for all my photos is colour grading and because I wanted this image to be consistent with the previous ones from that day, I used a similar tonal gradient to achieve that.
I hope you enjoy this continuation of the series of photos from the Swiss Alps. I probably have at least couple more waiting to be processed and hope to get to them in the future. If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask or send me a message or email. I am always happy to answer and to explain anything about my photos and photographing process. As always, thank you for all the interest and support. They do mean a lot to me.
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This image has been featured in 1 Remix collection.