Taken during a climbing trip in the Purcells, British-Colombia (Canada). I did took plenty of times to find an interesting composition here. I might had better result with a film less sensible to high contrast or with a polarized filter. Any suggestions?
The Canon EOS 500 camera is very similar to the Canon Rebel. It is very lightweight (especially combined with the 50 f1.8 lens). Yeah, after seeing the pictures of this trip, I did buy a UV filter and a polarized filter. You are right a UV filter was required for this trip and this picture (+/- 2000 meters of altitude). A UV filter will sure be in my bag on my next climbing trip!
If you are bothered with the contrast between foreground and background, you could use a split neutral density filter. These are filters with one half transparent and the other half gray. An example of these would be the square cokin filters. You can place the filter so that the middle lines up with the line which separates light from dark values. They come in different strengths, too.
I think it is a really nice photograph, both the colours and composition. Especially the way the big tree comes out is beautiful. There are some blown out highlights in the foreground, indeed. Honestly, I do not know wether a polarizer would have lessened contrast here.
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