Evening star., 1948-08-08

With the Blue Ridge Mountains
50 close at hand, many are making
annual pilgrimage out Of the clammy
heat of Washington in that direc-
ton. Whether for q days trip,
week end or summer vacation,
mountains are one Of natures
beauty spots where endless picture
taking possibilities are at hand.
There are the wide expanses to be
photographed from the Skyline
Drive, the narrow gorges with
tumbling mountain streams, and a
host of other picture possibilities to
satisfy the most exacting camera
fan. There are few angles to-
mountain photography that are
worth looking into before starting
out.
Equipment should be your first
consideration. Travel light, be-
cause a great proportion of your
best shots will be made from heights
that can be reached only on foot.
Don't plan on shooting pictures
from the window of your car If
you expect to get something that
hasn't already been done thou
sand times before. Every tourist
who follows the Skyline Drive gets
out his box camera at the usual
places and car parks and fires away.
But you will want something a bit
different and must be prepared to
work for it.
So take your light camera-a re-
f1ex with ground-glass focus if you
have one This will enable you
to make critical adjustments for
composition effects. At any rate it
will be advisable to have camera
with a lens that can be stopped
down for sharpness Of detail. On
bright, clear days you will possibly
have a chance, TO- get something with
q box camera, but atmospheric con-
ditions in the mountains usually call
for a more versatile instrument.
q There are three Indispensable
items to take along. A yellow filter; /
K2 or a G will help cut through
the haze and place emphasis on
cloud formations. A tripod will be
necessary for those occasions when
you stop down the lens for long ex-
posures-and those occasions will
arise rather frequently in the noun
tains. Finally, your exposure meter
will really prove its worth when you
run into those scenes involving the
full scale of your film. The film, if
you prefer black and white, need
not be particularly fast as most Of
your exposures will be reasonably
long. A panchromatic f1lm with an
outdoor speed of about so to 100
will be about right. And don't for
get to take along few rolls of
color film.
Compromise Exposure.
Where a long range of tones be-
tween black and white Is involved
lit will be advisable to use the
brightness range method of de-
termining exposure. A conceivable
situation of this kind might well
arise when taking picture having
a large white cloud area and an
expanse of shaded mountainside. A
compromise exposure is arrived at
by balancing between the darkest
and the lightest objects in the
scene. If you exposed for the light
area, the darker portion would be
badly underexposed with lack of de-
tail rendition or, conversely, If you
exposed the dark area, the high
lighted portion would block up from
oyerexpoosure.
In case like this it is much
better to measure with your meter
the two extremes and base your ex-
posure on the medium. Where great
distances are involved substitute
readings can be made with the light
meter. AS an example you would
get the same reading on nearby
group of trees, similarly lighted, as
you would If you could obtain a
reading on another group, inacces-
sible because of distance. These
pictures with a long brightness
range can be helped in the dark
room by developing as much as one
third less than a normal negative
would require.
IL Sou CdAhcid Will dISoiiAhoAo.e
several lenses of different focal
lengths-and if you have them
you will find both the wide-angle
lens and the telephoto lens of great
value In taking pictures In the!
mountains. There will be times
when you are backed up against the
wall of a narrow ravine that the
normal lens will not take in the
I :::!:: E::s 7[1:I''1!