Tag Archives: nikon 18-70
Loch Tulla Panorama
I have just come back from a trip up to the Glencoe/ Rannoch Moor area and spent a productive day shooting there. I have been working through my images but I thought I would post this one first.
This is Loch Tulla, not long after sunrise. The fog had started to burn off from the winter sun, leaving the valley floor shrouded in mist that swirled around the bottom of the mountains. This left an idyllic Scottish scene with the semi-frozen loch reflecting the snow covered peaks behind.
This image was made up from 13 seperate images taken in portrait format and stitched together. This creates a very large image of over 14500 pixels on the longest side. This allows this image to be enlarged to very large sizes with no loss in quality or resolution. A scene such as this deserves to be captured with as much detail and quality as possible.
Loch Achray
Today was the first day in weeks that I managed to spare some time for a trip away. The weather forecast said sunny spells and light winds. I got up early in the morning to be confronted with a reasonable looking day, light winds and not too much cloud right enough.
The plan was to climb up Conic Hill at Balmaha for a panoramic view along Loch Lomond. Unfortunately as I was heading up towards Balmaha the cloud cover started to roll in. By the time I was on the east side of Loch Lomond, the clouds totally covered the sky in a uniform dull grey. I then decided to abandon the hillwalk till another time and headed to Aberfoyle, hoping for a break in the clouds. First stop, once I reached Aberfoyle was to head along to Loch Ard. The grey skies meant that I tried for compositions without too much or any sky in them. I was luck in the fact that the upturned boat was placed in a good position beside the tree stumps and jetty.
The lack of wind meant that within a couple of minutes of getting here the midgies were all over me and biting rather ferociously. Luckily I remembered my midge hood was still in my camera bag. It might not look the best thing in the world but it certainly works in keeping the face and head midge free.
My next stop was then to head along the Dukes Pass towards Loch Achray. The lack of wind meant that the still waters perfectly reflected the trees in the hills around the loch.
The small church in the Picture is the ‘Trossachs Church’ erected in 1849 in this most picturesque location and is still in use today. ‘Achray’ is believed to be derived from old Gaelic, meaning the field of devotion, a place of worship in the open air.
Another view of Loch Achray this time from the reeds around the western edge of the Loch.
Once I had these images, I then spent some time along the road towards Loch Venachar. Nothing really caught my eye as by now the wind had started to get up and any picture opportunities afforded by the calm waters were gone. I headed back towards Aberfoyle for refreshments and a bite to eat and then seeing no let up in the grey conditions, I headed home.
So, the first trip away since I got back from holiday and not the most successful trip ever. That’s the thing with landscape photography though, sometimes the conditions just don’t come together and you come away with hardly anything to show for the effort of getting up early and travelling a hundred or so miles. I suppose three images that I am reasonably pleased with is better than none though.
Isle of Arran Panoramas
Two images taken on a crisp Christmas Day. The recent snowfalls had covered Arran in a good layer of snow. With my wife busy making the Christmas dinner and my son having disappeared upstairs to his xbox, I decided to get out for an hour to try and get some pictures. This is Ardrossan North Shore looking towards Arran.
This is a view from Ardrossan Harbour looking through the breakwater towards Arran.
Loch Arklet
Another couple of images from last weeks trip to the Trossachs. Loch Arklet is nestled in a valley, so depending on the wind direction, good reflections can be found here. The Loch’s water level was raised in the early 20th century by the building of a dam. This Loch helps to supply Glasgow with it’s fresh drinking water.
This is Loch Arklet with Beinn Narnain, Ben Vane and Ben Vorlich in the background more commonly known as the Arrochar Alps.
An Aird Sunset
Day 6 Continued…..
After the nice early evening light at the fairy pools, the clouds started to roll in so we didnt want to travel too far for a sunset. We decided to have a look at the area around the narrows of Raasay, a small peninsula called An Aird. While Cameron decided to wander along to An Aird itself, I decide that the bay before it called Camas a Mhor-Bheoil looked a bit more promising. I walked down to the edge of the rocks and started looking for a good vantage point. After exploring the area for an hour or so the sun started to set, but the sunset was pretty poor with the heavy clouds and the slight spits of rain as well. I did manage to get a couple of images that I liked though.
