₊˚✧ ← mt rainier '26
September 5-8, 2026
Some quick thoughts before the pictures:
No sugarcoating, I'm very unhappy with these pictures! I pretty much set everything to auto and naively traversed Mt. Rainier assuming the camera would compensate for whatever conditions I walked into (plus my lack of skill). The issues I faced were largely predictable: muted color in overcast conditions, flatness from the camera's tone curve, no accounting for fog so very underexposed pictures etc. These are also largely correctable in post (I think at least…I don't know how to do the "correcting" but I think they are…), but could have easily been fixed mid-session had a +2 IQ holder used the camera instead. Definitely cope but I think if I had service while hiking I could have looked up basic exposure settings and salvaged some of these… Images below reflect a lack of preparation more than any limitation of the camera itself.
You'll notice a lot of variation in the color-grading across these pictures, warmth especially (see this versus this). I used the Royal Supra filter (you'll have to scroll a bit to see the settings, was trying to replicate this Reddit post I found), which failed miserably and didn't really fit the crisp PNW nature cool-toned aesthetic I was going for. The filter pushes everything golden + super SUPER red and slightly nostalgic. The inconsistency between these shots makes the whole set feel less cohesive than it should be.
The red started grating on me pretty fast, so I impatiently began spamming random buttons, changing mid hike whatever I thought would help. I couldn't tell you what half of these were shot at now, and there's no recovering that information. I have no way to replicate them also (not that I want to - they're terrible). In hindsight, this filter would have been much better suited for street photography. I do like the warmth (kind of reminiscent of Summer Chrome recipe I used on my brother's Fujifilm XT-5), but a look built for warm city light and neon signs doesn't really suit fog, wet moss, and grey rocks. Cool filter for some other time!
Unfortunately, all these pictures required post-processing work in Lightroom (albeit minimum changes, like in exposure, highlight, contrast, some pics simply set to auto - but please don't ask me for the settings I used… I don't know how to edit photos either…) which defeated the point of carrying a capable camera in the first place (and one of my main motivations behind choosing the Ricoh GR line). I want to be able to walk away with JPEGs you can post as is instead of a folder of raw material waiting on my laptop. There is also something a bit humbling about watching the auto button in Lightroom fix glaring issues any dumbass could've caught on the trail.
I really do like the HDF - another one of the main reasons I purchased this camera! See this. With HDF on, the sun turns into a hazy bloom rather than a harsh white circle, leaving the picture with the most beautiful dream-like soft highlight. Gives the photo a subtle glow without making it look over-filtered. Easily the one thing that went right!
I know the capabilities of this powerful camera and know I can perform better! I vow to not be an auto-demon by my next trip in December. I want to actually understand what I'm changing and why (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, focus - all of it) instead of relying on the camera to make every decision for me. I will try to document my progress and take more intentional photos!
I've been pretty critical, but that's mostly because I can already see how much better these pics could have been had I known what I was doing. Even so, there are a handful I genuinely love, and that alone makes me excited to keep going! More importantly though, I had a great time with my friends and that alone outweighs every grievance I have with these pics! They may not be perfect, but they'll still help me remember how much fun I had this past Labor Day weekend… 😄
- Anshi
