View of the Alps from Mt. Titlis, Switzerland

Mt Titlis is located in the Swiss Alps next to the town of Engelberg. The mountain is about 3020 mts high, the highest point in central Switzerland, to reach the top you must use three separate cable cars. Once at the top you can visit the Ice grotto which has been tunnelled through the mountain towards the peak of Titlis.  

The top photograph was taken from one of two viewing window at the summit looking towards the high Alps. Although busy at all times of the year with both tourists and skiers, it is a very quiet and peaceful location. I used a polarizer filter to cut through the glare and increase saturation. It does this by removing the reflections from all surfaces, including snow. When the reflection is gone, the true color shows through. There are two types of polarizer, linear and circular. The linear ones can affect the actions of auto-focus lens so can only be used on manual focus lens, the circular ones can be used by auto-focus lens.

The bottom image is of Trubsee, a mountain lake half way up Titlis and a winter ski resort. I deliberately used a portrait format to include the edges of the lake and the top of the mountains. However to ensure that the image was balanced and interesting, I used the curves of the foreshore as a lead in line to the image and draw the viewer through the picture towards the building at the head of the lake.

top - Pentax SFXn Sigma 28 - 135mm lens.