rocks and climbing Courage...

Your suggestions, how to improve such picture (sky, rocks, shadow

with climber) will be appreciated. Thank you.

For you to take your hands off whatever gear you had to take a picture shows as much courage as your subject has for even being there! The light is against you here. You can see sunlight out in the valley beyond the rocky face you're on that shows you to be several hours on the shadow side of the mountain.

 

I like oblique light to highlight the rugged texture of the rocks. It brings out the color in the rock and the shadows show Nature's majesty. Often side lighting is better than overhead light, but in the case of a cliff like this one, I think sunlight coming from directly above you would do as well. Overhead light shining down at an angle coming over your partner's shoulder on the other hand would wipe out any texture in the rock by filling it in and would create so much contrast between her back and front as to ruin the picture.

 

You clearly must accept the situation as it is given to you. It doesn't look safe to wait for the sun to climb overhead, and if evening is approaching, you need to get on your way.

 

Your photo seems to me to be halfway between two pictures that both feature your partner. One is a wide angle shot aimed slightly higher that puts her in the lower right portion of the picture. The rest of the shot goes high and wide to show as much of the rock face you're climbing as the focal length of the lens will allow. The picture will still appear flat, but you can brighten it a little and add some contrast in PS to make it more interesting.

 

Your partner is the subject of the second picture. A longer lens puts her in the upper left third of a shot that emphasizes her leaning over the rocky cliff. I would frame her high enough so that it is clear that she is holding on to the face of a cliff. Most of this picture is relatively darker than the rest of the scenery so my hope would be that the camera would meter the scene in a higher register producing a somewhat lighter result. Your partner's face and underside is in deeper shadow than her surrounding and it is clearly impossible to manipulate the natural lighting to reflect more light off the cliff to brighten them. I think I would select her face and chest in PS and brighten them a little to get a better view of her features. As before I think I would brighten the whole scene and add some contrast for interest. Perhaps add some saturation as well. If the second shot comes out looking the same as a cropped section of the picture above, I think I would approach it as if it had been underexposed to adjust it in PS.

 

What an adventure! You have a great memento of a grand climb. Well done!

Albert, thank you for your contribution. This picture was shot in the morning. My friend (he) is not climber, so to pass this exposed place, I told him what to hold and where to step and ran to have this picture. So I did not have to much time and at the same time I was also exposed, so there was no time for picture games. Thank you for your comments.