SLC-S29/W1 | How to Photograph Mountains / Hills / Peaks by @bossj23

Hills, valleys and peaks are very difficult to locate or see in where I reside. I'll need to leave my local government to another, as hills, mountains and peaks aren't man-made. I had to pay my way with my mobile phone as I'm very good at photographing wide angle shots. Despite my knowledge in photography, I've learnt a lot from @walitcd tutorial and I applied almost everything he taught us. Since there's no known mountain in my local government, I decided to carry out the practical with the hills at Ibom Icon Hotel.

Photographing Specimen	Hills
Location	Google Maps
Country	Uyo, Nigeria

Ibom Icon Hotel has a large grassland and these grasslands are surrounded with hills, valleys, steeps and beautifully made paths with the rocks. This place has been in existence for thousands of years with trees that are as old as 1000 years.

Photographing Device	Mobile Phone
Mobile Phone Name	Redmi Note 13 Pro
Brand	Xiaomi
Rear Camera	108 MP
Model
Photographing Time	10Am-1pm

Using the tutorials graciously, I'd love to talk about how I applied what is being taught.

Landscape Composition

The Composition of land close to this hill includes rocks, steeps, trees, soil covered with lawn grasses and the likes. I didn't just take the picture of the hill side, I ensured that other components like trees, grasses, the rocks and paths were inclusive and I did a wide angle shot. I took it in front, beside and at the back of the hill.

I also took the picture from the highest hill in this place which I'm standing on to view the down part of other hills covered with trees. If you take a look at the highest hill, there's ant hill close to the tip of the hill. This is a composition of the landscape of this hill.

There are other sub hills in this landscape.. The hill beside the his highest hill is a tall tree with an extended root that's vibrant and old. If you take a look at it, one can sit on the root and view far things from where they are standing from. Let me just label it for quick recognition.

Hill 1
Hill 2
Hill 3
Hill 4

What the viewer can see from all these.

• Let's take a look at the weather and sky which captures the hill. The weather is clement and it was during the morning light, though the sun was out, the morning sun.

• The environment looks more like a nature park which is well taken care of for tourists who come for an adventure. I stated it already, that we have rocks for photographs, paths and the sky wasn't blue as expected, but it was definitely okay because of the sun.

Rocks	Sky	Paths

• The hills all have shapes and the lawns make the shape come out very well. If you look at the shape of hill 1, you'll see that it looks like an inverted V-shape or pyramid that doesn't have a sharp end. I don't know how to describe the shape, but it's beautiful. Normally, a hill is steep, but this one is wild as if you're with a slippery shoe, you'll roll down and crash on the path like I nearly did.

Horizontal Line

I think the horizontal line was plainly seen in the pictures below. From the tutorials, I discovered that there's a low horizon and high horizon. I made my focus on both hill 1 and 2. Let's talk about hill 2 first which was the entrance point to getting to hill 1. The hill side with a path directly faced me when coming out from another part. So I tried striking a balance at the center to make it symmetrical. It's only through wide angle shots you can achieve this, to cover a wide angle and make it uniquely different.

Low Horizon for hill 2

High Horizon for hill 2

In hill 1 after climbing the second hill, I saw a direct gaze from hill 1 but didn't have the space to place the hill at the centre because that part was a slope and can make you have a bad fall. I couldn't take a low horizon shot in hill 1. I could only take a high horizon shot.

High Horizon for Hill 1	Low Horizon for Hill 1

Scale and Dimension of Space

In my phone's setting, using 0.6 would give a beautiful wide angle, but you'll need to scale up to improve the quality of the picture. X1 makes a lot of things enter the picture, expanding the size and using landscape was perfect for this. The portrait dimension wouldn't have made us see the full shape of the mountain. Even if we could see it, some things would be missing, I mean some elements and the focus would be just on the mountain. Using X2 depending on where you're standing brings the camera to a focus on the hill or mountain in question. If you're close to the hill, X2 omits other features.

	X1 Zoom
	X2 Zoom
	X4 Zoom

Natural Light, shooting time and Night Sight

Most people don't know how to use their phone cameras when snapping pictures. They assume their camera isn't good enough, whereas they don't just know how to use their camera features. When taking my hill photograph during the day, the sun was bad and harsh and not the mild and gentle sun we usually have around 4pm. Anyways, the morning sun tends to cover every angle before it shifts or changes coarse. I don't know why the sun was so harsh that morning but it didn't disturb my photography skills. Why? Use these steps to set up your camera.

Let me teach you my strategy. Take your camera and try to drag the screen to the top. You'll see a light element and a control button will show which helps you regulate the saturation, preventing the pictures from becoming too yellow or orange. I took these pictures in the morning that's why it was giving nature's vibes and not the afternoon forest vibes if taken at that time. Using night site even though it's not night, helps improve clarity. Try this strategy.

Photo Angles

I took pictures from different positions which I'll spell out squarely.

Top view	This was when I stood at the top of hill 1. I used this opportunity to picture how sloppy the hill was and a clearer view of hill 2 and 3 from above as this was the best hill ever for a clear view

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

These are some of the angle shots I took and please note when taking pictures, you need to place these settings in your phone. You don't need a camera. With your phone, you can go a long way to creating impactful pictures.

My Experience

I actually went there with a friend. I've never climbed a steep hill before. I climbed it that day and I did play on the hill while he video me. It's very difficult to climb a hill that's grassy. At least, sands would hold your feets together and prevent free fall. I then decided to fall down from the hill by running down. It was just so funny. I look pictures of everything unique and I did have the best tour time ever. If you want an adventure, I'll recommend this place with my full chest.