Photography Advice from a Stranger

This weekend, I was up in Oregon at the Hoyt Arboretum wandering around. I came to an overlook that showed Mount St Helens and in the distance, Mount Rainier. They were at a bit of a distance and the air wasn’t perfectly clear, but I snapped a photo with my iPhone anyway.

Then an older gentleman, who’d been talking to a small group of hikers, came over to me and said that if my sunglasses were polarized, I could put the lenses in front of my phone’s camera for a better picture.

It was very awkward trying to hold the sunglasses in front of the camera, hold the camera steady, then hit the Take Photo circle. But I managed.

Can you guess which photo is with the polarized lenses? The lenses didn’t make the photo any sharper, but they did increase the contrast and alter the color.

For an introvert who often travels alone, it’s always a pleasant surprise when I encounter a helpful stranger. Maybe some day I can pass this tip on to another hiker and continue the chain of good advice.