Oh wow the Cader Idris hike never gets any easier it's a hard slog up through the forest but i'm
hoping we're going to get some snow up on the top it was pouring all night and there is snow on
some of the other mountains around us so fingers crossed we get some snow-capped peaks for those of
you who haven't heard of caddaridarus it's one of the mountains in the southern end of the snowdonia
national park and it's a fantastic peak to hike i've missed all of the snow that we've had so
far in the uk but i'm just hoping we can get a little bit here today but only time will tell
looks like it's going to be a good day that sunlight's already poking through
and there is a little bit of snow up on the tops
so it's looking fantastic but still a way to go yet
now the question is is the peak free from cloud i think it might be for now but this is the kind
of place that we'll hover over in cloud in an instant definitely need to get to the gym more
spoke too soon the summit is actually in the clouds
now one great thing that photography brings to hiking is that
it's an excuse to stop and take pictures so if you're with a group and you're knackered but
you don't want to tell everyone just start taking pictures you get your breath back
and then you can carry on and everyone will think that you're a lot fitter than you are
now this is a really good sign if there's snow this low down
there's definitely going to be more up at the top and i know this isn't proper snow
it's a bit of a dusting it's your typical british snow
it's so hard to get photos when the sun's coming in and out
so it's really important to have your camera ready and that's why one of these clips is really good
i can have my camera there as soon as that song comes out i'll take a shot so make sure you have
your camera ready to go when you do have these bits of light coming and going really quickly
so i've got a load of snow and this is absolutely fantastic i was saying to my wife the other day
that we're so unlucky not to get any snowy scenes so i'm so happy i made it up today now
i've noticed with my photography recently that i've been doing this one thing more and more
and it's really started to make my photos stand out and it kind of goes against most of
the compositional tips and techniques i have done it already in some of the photos that i've taken
but i just need to find another example to show you exactly what i mean
now you hear people talk about the rule of thirds leading lines front middle and back compositions
and i've even got a video on compositional techniques however this one technique
really does go against all of those rules
now this is fantastic and this makes that long hike all worthwhile getting scenes like this
this is what i come out here for the sun is poking out every now and then even though we've got the
dark clouds over the mountains now if any of you have watched my channel for a while you
know i love a good piano stitch it's exactly what i'm going to do here is a little bit dark
but i'm going to shoot one anyway and when that sun comes back out i'll probably do another one
again with those pano stitches just make sure you've got enough of an overlap
and the computer will stitch them together any gaps and it's ruined
oh wow
we've got some beams
now this is absolutely fantastic we've got some beams coming through we've got
showers coming through i'll be surprised if i don't get absolutely soaking wet
going up here or at least snowed on but it's well worth it for this view
here comes the snow
now this compositional technique i was talking about earlier
is basically breaking the rule of thirds it's not using leading lines it's not using that front
middle back compositional technique it's literally whacking something bang in the middle of the shot
it could be right in the middle it could be at the bottom in the middle it could be at the top in the
middle but it's basically having something in your frame that really draws the eye to
it i love doing this technique and i'm doing it more and more especially with a telephoto lens
i've got up to 200 millimeters on my camera and it's perfect for this whether it's hikers at
the top of the mountain whether it's a bit of prominent land sticking out into a lake
or whether it's a building in the shot get it dead center or get it at the bottom of the top of the
frame still dead center and you'll be surprised how good the image will start looking now this
scene is just fantastic those light beams are coming through directly into this valley
and this is exactly what i was talking about i just dropped the exposure down you can see
that there looks really cool now this road up the valley i'm going to put dead center in the frame
now it is a little bit of a leading line but having that going up the middle of the
frame kind of breaks that rule of thirds breaks some other rules in
composition as well but i love these shots and whenever i see the opportunity i grab it
these light beams were so prominent that they needed minimal editing with the zoom
i got closer to the trees in the valley floor but i'd like to have got closer to these trees
to single out that one in the middle of the frame these light beams are so good i couldn't
resist getting more shots of them this is one of my favorites as the dip in the snow covered
foreground almost mimics the clouds in the sky framing the valley and those light beams
so it's getting really blowy and it's getting really slippery as well which is unfortunate
i don't have my crampons with me so i don't think it's really advisable to go to the top
it's probably blowing yeah i'm not proud i know when i'm not prepared enough for the conditions
and i know the conditions are changing and it does seem like that cloud's closing in quite a
bit i've got a couple that i like already i'm just going to see what else i can get
so it did get pretty bad and the wind did try to blow me off the mountain
so turning back was a good idea but i did get a few more shots on the way
down using this central compositional technique in this shot that little tree
at the bottom draws your eye down before your eye explores the rest of the frame
now sometimes it can be less obvious like this one
so if you are struggling to get a shot with a telephoto lens look for something
to anchor the shot and try it dead center bottom center or top center of the frame
and let me know in the comments below how you get on when doing this with your photographs