Introduction
So you've got a good camera. Do you really think that that alone will give you excellent shots? Of course it won't. You can have a clear summer's day in the Lake District on the mountain tops but still get poor photos. Why? Because haze can destroy a lot of detail, people and other objects can appear in the shot when you don't want them to and the harsh light doesn't give the mountains a good striking appearance. Conversely, nasty weather can sometimes give excellent dramatic shots that do the mountains good justice.

So in summary, good photos are about getting into the correct position for your subject, waiting for the right conditions and using other objects such as people to add mood or scale to the shot.

Consider Trees getting in the way

Note the unwanted rock at the bottom of the frame

Get into position
Many people, myself included, will be quite happy to get a photo of the subject showing reasonable detail and not be too fussed about whether it's not the perfect light condition. In such cases I probably just want to illustrate what's there. In all cases, you'll want to get into the right position for taking the picture. You want to consider the angle from which you take the photo of your mountain as well as the distance from it.

You'll want to position yourself so that unwanted features don't appear in the frame. For example, is the view of your subject partially obstructed by a tree, slope, man etc? If so, move into a new position. Consider what else you want in the frame to complement it. Sometimes you want to include, say, the ridge you're on sweeping away from you to the main subject.

Trees very well placed in this classic picture

Nice foreground slope;

Ridge leading away to the subject

A clear, crisp day with good contrast between shadow and snow

This summit fills the frame nicely

Considering the foreground is as important as the main subject - a nice bridge, lonely tree anything that improves the shot basically. You may find that the ancillary object gives a sense of scale to the main object - or just adds to the mood.

Once you've chosen your spot, you need to frame it correctly. Fill the frame is a good rule. You don't want your main subject to look tiny so getting the proportions right is crucial. The position of your subject in the frame is reasonably important as well. One expert told me the "third's rule". Basically the idea is that your subject is one third in from the edge of your photo. So two thirds ground one third sky (or the other way round) makes for a better shot.

Cloudy picture not so good without some sunshine

Excellent foreground highlighted
by darker background

Use of Light
The quality of the light you're using makes all the difference between a poor shot and a good one. Dark murky cloudy days don't make the most impressive shots generally. Hard rain and featureless clouds minimise all contrasts such that details on your subject are eliminated. Poorer light also leads to camera shake problems as well as small depth of field due to the wide aperture. As said before, bright hazy sunny days, whilst better, don't often deliver amazing results. In both instances detail is washed out. So what conditions are needed to give good general shots?

The keyword here is contrast! In the middle of the day, a mixture of sunshine and shade from clouds leads to highlights on the ground. In the early mornings and evenings, large shadows form on slopes and near ground detail stands out much better - this effect is best seen on snow. So we've established that good contrast is important. But where are the highlights best placed?

My experience suggests that a bright foreground and dark background gives some very dramatic results. In general you won't often get this but general results will benefit from highlights - with more sun than shade. But is there such a thing as too much contrast? I think so. Sometimes pictures look better when the sunlight is softened - take a look at the photo below to see what I mean. Swirling Mist and clouds across the frame definitely adds a drama to the shot and helps to soften the light. Having the sun in the shot can often work wonders.

Trail leading to the sunset

The sun's the good trick in this shot!

A bit of mist helps this picture

Use of People
I'm not such an expert in people pictures but using them in mountain shots can either enhance or ruin the picture. Solitary figures or small groups work best in such shots. Large crowds and folk scattered randomly across the frame simply doesn't work. With small groups, I find that when they are close together then the photo looks better.

The small group improves this rainbow shot

Folk dotted about don't improve the picture

Wouldn't look sood good without a person present

One of my favourite silouette shots

The scramble looks better with a person

I'm a great fan of silouettes. They look dramatic and add scale to the shot. I don't think I've seen a picture that doesn't look good without silouettes. Again though, small groups probably work best.

Sometimes a mountain photo won't work when there aren't any people in the picture. When trying to illustrate a scramble then a figure will help illustrate the scramble when otherwise it would just look like a random rocky picture. The same goes for photos in the mist - people in the picture add interest to an otherwise plain photograph.