Grand Muveran and Petit Muveran: Last Mountain Light

Earlier this year I organised a Google+ photo walk to Leysin, which is a small town in the Alps of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Unfortunately, it was quite hazy that day, and it was hard to get really nice photographs. Luckily, it cleared up a bit at the end of the day and I was able to get away with this photograph of the snow-covered peaks of the Grand Muveran and Petit Muveran mountains. Both are about 3.000 metres (10.000 ft) high and part of the Muverans massif.

The Diablerets Massif in B&W: Last mountain light

Last light on the snow-covered Grand Muveran and Petit Muveran mountains, as seen from Leysin in Switzerland.

I really loved how the last light was hitting the rugged face of these two mountains. That’s why I decided to focus on that and keep the composition reasonably simple: just the rugged mountain face and the soft last mountain light. I used a 2:1 crop to try to frame the key parts of the photograph a bit. Hope you like this image of the Swiss Alps! I captured this photograph of the Grand Muveran and Petit Muveran using a Nikon D3x with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens. No filters were used.

Cheers, Johan 🙂

135 thoughts on “Grand Muveran and Petit Muveran: Last Mountain Light

  1. Sandra Mara Carvalho de Melo says:

    yes , l believe that you in front a all image with all beauty white and roch ,with certain one emocion single:)

  2. Baldur McQueen says:

    Beautiful light – perfect sharpness. Looks so powerful and silent… for a lack of a better way to put it ;-)

  3. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Matthias: not sure how I do it either 😉 Keep trying I would say! thanks for the compliment!
    @Gemma: thanks Gemma!
    @Aileen: thanks a bunch Aileen!!! 

  4. Matthias Haeussler says:

    I love your b/w mountain shots! I never get this great tonality into mine … good inspiration :-))

  5. Christof Simon says:

    An amazing b+w interpretation Johan I’m impressed by the richness of detail this capture shows. Great!

      • Christof Simon says:

        Thanks Johan, most things are fine. And I try to change the ones that are not 😉 In the moment my bread-and-butter job takes too much time…
        All the more I enjoy looking at good captures, like this one.

        • Johan Peijnenburg says:

          Good luck with making the changes Christof! And no worries, I guess we all have to balance between priorities :)

  6. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Richard: thanks! All’s fine thank you. And with you. Did you move already?
    @Michael: glad you like it Michael!

  7. Laurent Coppée says:

    This has really tremendous details! Love the clarity, the tones and contrast! I’ve used this word before but, again, this is really alpinetastic Johan!

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      Thanks Laurent! I love to do mages like this, but I think I need to start posting some colour one’s now to keep a balance :)

      • Laurent Coppée says:

        Oh but I don’t mind having more B&W than colours 🙂
        Yet it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post in colour, the more you post the better :-)

  8. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Sophie: thank you!!! Glad you like them (and the image)!
    @Ian: Yes I sure do. These are actually fairly close to where I live 🙂
    @David: thanks for the compliment and for stopping by!
    @rich: thank you. Glad you like it!

  9. Ian Gazzard says:

    Nice work through the whole tonal range Johan, You have some great mountain ranges hey and this is a Beautiful example!

  10. Sophie Vandebuerie says:

    Wow Johan , this is phenomenal!!! I can feel the energy of this mountains! Love it!!!! 🙂
    Thanks for posting!

  11. Joel Tjintjelaar says:

    Ah some traditional work! I wish we’d have some mountains over here in Holland Johan ! Classic beauty!

    • Johan Peijnenburg says:

      There are rumors that you will get one … although artificial Joel, so there is hope. Otherwise you are still very welcome to come to CH. Thanks for the compliment!

  12. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    Merci beaucoup Jean-Michel!
    Thank you Beatrix!
    @Robert: thanks Robert. I will see if I can create a colour version that I like myself. I opted for B&W because I had a certain end result in mind, so haven’t really worked on the colour version. Hope all is well in Austria!

  13. Robert Skreiner says:

    Really a wonderful panorama of swiss mountains! But I would also like to see a version in colour?

  14. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Charles: thanks Charles!
    @Dawid: thanks you as well David!
    @Wilfried: I know you love this 🙂 It was nice indeed! Thanks!
    @Alan: really glad you do Alan! Thanks. My priorities are at being out there shooting now though 🙂
    @Andrew: thank you for the kind words Andrew!

  15. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Johan: thanks Johan!
    @Andy: I love it when the light does that to rugged mountain faces like this. Thanks!
    @Anette: I like my drama Anette :)
    @Patrice: I know and I had vin chaud after 🙂 Thanks!
    @Paul: thanks for the compliment. Looking forward to the Austrian version 🙂
    @Markus: thanks Markus!!!

  16. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Ben: glad you like it Ben!
    @Eric: merci!
    @Paul: dank je wel Paul!
    @John: glad Ireland approves as well John! How are things?
    @Kerry: thanks a bunch Kerry!

  17. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Mikko: thanks for the kind words and stopping by again Mikko!
    @Ada: that’s a very nice compliment Ada!!!
    @Nikola: dank je wel!
    @Sumit: thanks Sumit … and still here 🙂
    @Margaret: I must be doing something right then ;)

  18. Markus Landsmann says:

    Johan that looks wonderful, the details in the midtones are very good. Have a great weekend.

  19. Paul Turkowski says:

    I love this kind of light in mountain photography! This is a big BW photography, looks massive Johan!

  20. Andrew Sanigorski says:

    Looks great Johan and the proportions of sunlight, rock and snow are perfect. Nice mountains too.

  21. Wilfried Haferland says:

    Wonderful photo! The rugged mountain face points out absolutely strong, the crop fits perfect here. It was a really nice walk in Leysin, and I’m happy to see another very good photo from there… Thank you, Johan!

  22. Ben Coope says:

    Great image, really llike the tones in sky and the snow/ice as the whitest point, really draws the eye to the mountains and lines in the rock face. very well done.

  23. Ada M says:

    ah! this picture went straight through my heart! So beautiful and stunning and….amazing!! Great one Johan !

  24. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Carolyn: thank you Carolyn for the kind words and for stopping by!
    @Tom: thank you. Almost as good as yours!
    @Carsten: danke vielmals Carsten!
    @Margaret: thanks a bunch Margaret 🙂 Glad you like my choices!

  25. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Dominique and Fabrizio: thank you 🙂
    @Meg: thanks Meg. Glad you stopped by again!
    @Jerry: thanks mr word magician. Much appreciated!
    @Emanuele: very kind Emanuele! Thanks.

  26. Margaret Tompkins says:

    Beautiful!! Incredibly wonderful! I love the wonderful light and the great patterns of light and shadow!! I like the crop too! Outstanding!!

  27. Carolyn Fahm says:

    This is so brilliant. A classic mountain image in the best traditions of the photographic masters of previous years. Perfect in every possible way.

  28. Emanuele F. Fusco says:

    Wonderful contrast of the mountains with your research of the soft last light. Great work Johan!

  29. Jerry Johnson says:

    I think I like this majestic photo on white more so than black Johan! 😉 Excellent work, as always, and the scene has a very granite type of look and feel to it. A cool effect!!

  30. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    Thanks Milan and Markus!!!
    Thank you as well Debby … you know I really hope it will take a while before I post my last one ;)
    @Peter: it certainly is Peter. Thanks!
    @Maggy: glad you like it Maggy!!!

  31. Sudip Ghate says:

    Gorgeous shot Johan! The contrast of the light and shadow areas is so well captured, and the tones are lovely!

  32. Johan Peijnenburg says:

    @Rüdi: thanks!
    @Davorin: glad you do Davorin! Some people are hinting that I should do more in colour again though :D

  33. Roland says:

    It’s that kind of light that makes me go silent and just look, maybe smell for I imagine how the cool air will stream downwards and cover my face, making me deeply immersed in that special smell of ice and rock… very nice!

    cheers
    ®

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