Shooting Huangshan: How to capture China's most romantic mountain

It is hard to understate the allure of Huangshan, China’s most famous -- and most romantic --mountain.

According to the Chinese saying “五岳归来不看山, 黄山归来不看岳” -- You won't want to visit any other mountains after viewing the Five Mountains, and you won’t even want to visit them after you come back from Huangshan.

The UNESCO World Heritage site is known for its towering granite peaks, pine forests, hot springs and "cloud seas." If you’ve seen a photo of mist rolling over mountains in China, chances are, that’s Huangshan.

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Since the Tang Dynasty, Huangshan has been immortalized in art, literature and religion, particularly in the mountain and water style (山水) paintings of the 16th century.

With such a rich history, photographing the mountain can be an intimidating experience -- resulting in gigabytes of photos trying to catch that perfect mountain shot. There are a few simple steps that will let you shoot and get on with your trip.

For information on the best ways to get to Huangshan, click to the the end of this piece.

Tip 1: Foreground and background

Huangshan isn't a single mountain but a whole range with several peaks reaching more than 1,800 meters above sea level. It can be hard to communicate in a photo the sense of scale and grandeur that the peaks inspire in person.

One way to put this in perspective is to use foreground elements, such as flowers and people, to introduce a sense of scale into the picture.

In this photo, the branches and flowers in the foreground provide a contrast with the mountains extending into the background.