Sense of Scale, White Mountains – To create a sense of scale in my New Hampshire White Mountains landscape imagery I try to include people or any object that will help viewers in determining the size of the scene. Including any object in a scene a viewer will recognize the size of works, but using people is usually the best option.

Everyone is familiar with the size of an average person, so the hikers included in these landscape scenes act as a reference point to help gauge the size of the scene. The size and depth of these scenes would be lost if the hikers were not included. And yes, the boulders (above) in King Ravine are huge!

If your intent is to show the natural beauty of a location, including a human element can take away from the purity of a scene. In these cases, a pure landscape shot maybe the best bet, but if you want to show the size of a location, including a human element will help. And do not be afraid to use yourself as a model. I do it often with satisfying results. Just try to avoid the "staged" look.

Mountain scenes with hikers in them are always in demand by publications. Outdoor photographers should have a couple sense of scale images on file. All of the above images can be licensed for publications by clicking on the image you are interested in, and you can view more sense of scale images of the White Mountains here.

Happy image making..

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Erin Paul Donovan

Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC

Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society.