Peak stop after the E ridge of the Aiguille du Tour

Nice climbing, nice place, nice photo. I'm wondering how (if at all) it could be improved and I think maybe if the orange jacket of the other climber was better lit seeing as he plays an important role in the composition and mood of the photo. Perhaps if he was turned slightly more away from the camera and contemplating the more distant summits? Other than that the black frame seems a little bit heavy here, but that's just a detail.

Cool picture!

 

A very good photo! And I like the idea about placing the climber at the most right. But I would use a bigger crop, showing more at the top and the left, placing the climber at the lower right angle, in that way, it will show how tiny a man can be agasist mother nature, Well, just a thought, Regards,kyle

Hi folks,

I would appreciate some comments on the composition of this picture,taken at about 3500m/10000ft, at the summit after a wonderful climb.Among other questions, I am asking to myself:

• Is my climbing partner too much out of the frame?
• Is there any hope that the attention is attracted to the way wecame out, that are those holes from our crampons just above thelower-side shadow?
• Is there a real centre-of-attention in the picture, or theclimber on a side and the ridge on the other mismatch?

Even more valuable to me, would be a comparison with this otherpicture taken to the right of this one.Thanks for all your support!

Dear Salavatore,

To answer your questions, the crampons are not disturbing, but the walking stick on the extreme right yes.

Composition would be correct for me, since the space on the top of the mountains is very limited.

You colleague is not too much on the right, but the picture would have been more interesting with your colleague standing up and looking on the left side of the picture.

You mentionned that you use a polarizer. Since the sky is quite grey with a low contrast, either the polarizer could have been adjusted or you have arrived too late on the top (around 11am). If it is a timing question, just get up earlier!

I quite like the climber sitting where a third pinnacle of rock 'should' be. There does seem to be no particular dominant subject though. But good shot!

First of all, this is far superior to the other photograph you wanted a comparison with. This has a better feeling of "space", maybe because you've isolated the peak here and cut out the immediate surroundings.

 

I don't like the walking pole/tent peg to the extreme right of the picture, that's the only obvious "defect" I can find.

 

This doesn't have an obvious centre of attention, but it doesn't need it. The climber is a natural part of the mountain. Looks like he grew here.

Thanks for all your comments, in particular for some of the questions:

• Dominique You are right on having a better light on the jacket, but I could not do this and the ridge at the same time, unless playing around with selective brightness tools in photoshop, but that time -I am bad with it- is better spent outdoor! I agree with you that he might have been looking elsewhere: will try on the next tour. As for the frame, you might be right, but by now is almost a trademark of mines.
• Kyle That's already a 20mm, and I did not crop so much away... so that's the most I can show you... I could not really move backward, since this is what was on my back!
• Patrick you are very right concerning the walking stick... I knew that while taking the picture and I knew someone with eyes sharp enough would have seen it. As for the polariser, you can see from (my) shadow that I had the sun quite in the back, so no big effect was to be expected. Rather just what you see in the rightmost part of the picture. Be assured we woke up earlish, 3am, for the walk, otherwise we would never have made it up in a snow-filled culuoir on the way up! It might have been around 8-9am at the time the shot was taken.
• Colin Most likely there was such a pinnacle some tens of thousands of years ago! I had never thought of it in this way, of a symmetry with the ridge... I'll try to see such things more often in the field, in future
• Andrew It is a walking stick, and I agree that it is terrible in there. Thanks for the comparison between the two pictures. It is hard to admit, since I like the other most, but you do have several points in preferring this one.

Well, first of all, the composition is pefect. There is a nice half circle of peaks, starting with the one closest, on which the climber is sitting, and moving on to the other two. I'm a little surprised that no one except Patrick Brossard has made the most obvious comment that needs to be made here. The climber should be facing the other way. The climber should be looking in the direction of the point of interest, which is the row of mountain peaks. The climber is looking right out of the photo, as if saying to us that all this scenery is not interesting. If this was a complete stranger to you, it is one thing, but this was a controllable situation. You could have just asked him to sit or stand the other way. Next time.

Johannes, I agree completely with the orientation of the climber to be the largest shortcoming of this picture, event though the situation was not so straightforward to control. Indeed, the change of composition of the other picture was meant to have him looking into the picture, although with a less interesting overall subject.

 

Cheers,

very nice!

If you have enjoyed this picture, you can peek at our

way to the top, which is the purple line up here. This shot is taken from the point with the green arrow.