Two images taken on a crisp Christmas Day. The recent snowfalls had covered Arran in a good layer of snow. With the rest of the family busy, I decided to get out for an hour to try and get some pictures. These are the results.

Another 4.30am rise yesterday. As the weather forecast was promising fog and mist early in the morning, I thought I would take a trip up to Aberfoyle for the sunrise.  I managed to capture this shot as the sun tried to break through the mist.

The next shot was taken looking over Loch Achray towards St Johns Church.  The swirling mist made the church appear and disappear minute by minute.  This has created a nice natural vignette to the image.

Day 7 Continued….

We headed back to the cottage in late afternoon.  By this time the cloud had started to move in and we debated whether it was worth the trip down to Elgol for the sunset.  We decided that as it was our last night we would go anyway and make the most of the evening.  We got to Elgol a couple of hours before sunset and started to look for suitable positions to capture the sunset, if we could see it through the cloud.  I took a few images of the loads of smooth rocks along the waters edge, knowing that a mono conversion might be best for these due to the grey sky.

 As the sunset got closer I headed to the spot I had picked out on my recce earlier.  I waited patiently for the sunset and got a couple of shots that were OK.

At this point I was starting to pack up the camera gear. I thought  that the sunset was over, then the bottom of the clouds started to turn pink and it was a mad rush to get everything back out and get somewhere with decent foreground interest to include in the sunset. The next shot was just the start of an amazing display.

For the next 5 minutes we were treated to one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.  The whole sky lit up with angry shades of red, yellow and purple.  It was hard to stop watching it and try and get a picture or two.  The images cant really do the sunset justice as it was one of those ‘wow’ moments that last a lifetime.

It was a wonderful end to a great week of picture taking.  I think the final tally was around 1900 shots taken.  Out of that 1900, a lot were multiples of the same thing and a lot of shots went into making the panoramas.  Out of the remainder I have got nearly 40 images that I was pleased with.

Once again Cameron has provided a video of the day’s locations.

Day 7

Our last day on Skye.  We decided to head to Talisker Bay.  Once we parked at the end of a single track road, it was a short mile or so hike along a farm track to the bay itself.  The walk was worth it as the bay revealed golden sand and loads of interesting rocks amongst the sand.  While this location is prbably better later on in the day when the sun is lower in the sky, I still managed a couple of images I was happy with.

Day 4 continued…

We arrived at Neist point mid afternoon which allowed plenty of time for me to walk down the multitude of stairs and follow the path to the lighthouse.  I spent some time around the lighthouse trying to get soime decent shots of all the birds that continously flew past.  On the way back I had to climb up the 240 feet of stairs to get back up to the car park.

Cameron has once again provided a video of our days activities from the view towards the old man of Storr, The Quiraing, Staffin Bay and finally the view from the cliffs looking down towards Neist Point.

We were very lucky with the sunset as the lack of clouds made the conditions perfect for the last rays of the setting sun to light up the cliffs of An t-Aigeach and the lighthouse as well.

Day 4

We decided to venture up the east coast of Skye towards The Quiraing. The Quiraing is a spectacular landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish Ridge on the Isle of Skye. The whole of the Trotternish Ridge escarpment was formed by a great series of landslips; the Quiraing is the only part of the slip still moving, the road at its base near Flodigarry requires repairs each year.  First of all we went down into Staffin Bay where the view looking across the bay towards the Trotternish Ridge and the Quiraing were very good.

We then drove up the small single track road to the top of the Ridge. A view from the Trotternish ridge looking towards The Quiraing.

A view from the Trotternish Ridge looking down towards Loch Cleat

After spending some time here we headed across the island with the intention of getting to Neist Point for a sunset.  On the way we couldn’t resist stopping to get this shot of Lamb Hotpot – Skye Style!

Day 3

Saw us once again going off island.  This time we decided to take a trip round the Applecross Peninsula.  This involved going over the Bealach na Ba. The Bealach na Ba (Gaelic: Pass of the Cattle, see Cattle droving) is a famous, twisting, single-track mountain road, rising to 626 metres (2053 feet) in the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross, Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It is one of very few roads in the Scottish Highlands which is engineered in a similar fashion to the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends which switch back and forth up the hillside, with gradients approaching 20%. It boasts the greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK, rising from Applecross at sea level to 626m above sea level.

This is a six image panorama from the top of the Bealach na Ba looking over towards Skye.  In the bay to the left of the picture you can see the houses in Broadford Bay where our cottage was located.

We then travelled around the Applecross peninsula where I manged to find some detail in an old fishing boat.

We also passed the bay where the BBC TV series ‘Monty Halls Great Escape’ was filmed.  There was a steady stream of people venturing down to the sands to have a look at the old cottage beside the bay.  This shot is a six image panorama of the whole bay.

More video from Cameron.  This time a short film of Plockton, plus the view towards Skye from Bealach na Ba and seals in the bay at Poll Creadha just past Applecross.

Day 2

I got up rather earlier than planned due to misreading the time on my phone. This worked in our favour as the day was bright, sunny and reasonably cloud free. This meant we decided to tackle Sgurr na Stri. It is not too large a hill only 494m (about 1500ft) but it can lay claim to having one of the best views in Britain from the top of it. To get to the hill was a 3 mile trek from Killmarie and across Camasunary bay.

The view looking down on Camasunary bay was good and showed the promise of better to come.

After a few hours of walking, climbing and taking pictures, we were rewarded with the view below. If there is a finer view in Britain then I would like to see it.

If you look at the full size version of the file you can see the motor launch ‘Bella-Jane’ taking passengers back towards Elgol.

After walking the 3 miles back to the car we decided that due to being exhausted and with various aches and pains/ sore feet, the picture taking was over for the day.

Cameron has produced a short video of the day courtesy of his 5DII’s high definition video recording modes.

Day 1 continued…

We left Skye hoping for a sunset at Eilean Donan Castle or even some long exposure shots once the castle lights were turned on. Unfortunately the sunset wasn’t up to much and there was still light in the sky at 11pm which didn’t help the castle lights shot so we gave up and returned to the cottage. I did manage to get a couple of shots I liked when the low sun illuminated the bridge and castle.

Cameron has once again provided a short video of the scene from the Canon 5DII’s high-Def video.

I have just come back from a weeks photographic trip to Skye. Seven days shooting and over 1900 shots later, I now have loads of images to process. I thought I would update the blog with the daily results of the trip. In my mind this makes it a bit easier to follow. Don’t miss the last day though which had an amazing sunset!

This is Elgol. A scene that has been pictured loads of times, but still impressive nonetheless with the Cuillin’s in the background.

I thought I would try something different and have some extra long exposures to blur the incoming tide. I used a Hitech 10 stop ND filter which can be problematic at times with colour casts and flare. I think I have got the flare issue sorted though. It seems that if you make sure the filter is covered around the top and sides it helps to stop light leaking onto the sensor. It is also advisable to cover the viewfinder too as this can also cause stray light to hit the sensor.