From Annapurna Base Camp in the Himalayas, there is a stunning view on a very serendipitous day. Some individuals spend days waiting for the mountain to emerge from the cloud cover. Annapurna I stands at 26,545 feet, making it the tenth-highest mountain in the world. It is massive; however, it did not appear twice as high from my vantage point.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime photographic moment; one has perhaps an hour before the sun descends low, necessitating a return down the trail to base camp below. You shoot and shoot, checking the histogram frequently. This photograph is a stitched panorama composed of four horizontal images taken at 24mm, handheld, and without a polarizer. It captures the natural dark blue sky characteristic of high altitudes.
I balanced the exposures to stitch the frames by finding a good average in the camera’s auto exposure; then, I set that exposure manually to lock it in. The photos were remarkably clear, and the side light was so pleasing that they required minimal processing. I opted for a higher ISO than usual that remained noise-free, and I selected an aperture of f/8, as the summit is approximately two miles away. This choice allowed for a shutter speed that made handheld shooting feasible.
I captured numerous panoramic frames and stitched them together to create various perspectives. This photograph encompasses just shy of 180 degrees of the entire real-life view. All I can express is my gratitude for remembering certain photographic principles that equipped me to swiftly capture this extraordinary sight, for which I had trekked six days to witness.
