Photo of the Month: October 2015

 Mysterious Ways


7th October 2015, Thrunton Woods, Northumberland

Thrunton Wood, a Forestry Commission woodland in Northumberland 5 miles North of Rothbury and just off the A897. It is a commercial woodland covering 10sqkm with plenty of forests roads as well as two waymarked trails in the northern section of the forest. Fog and rain gave the woods an eerie atmosphere as we walked the Castle Hill Trail (5 miles). I had been searching for a suitable composition to photograph throughout the walk but nothing really grabbed me.  It wasn't until we were returning to the car park along Thrunton Crag that I saw what I was looking for. I was immediately taken by the recession along the track created by the fog, the branches over the track, the dark tree trunks on either edge of the frame and the earthy tones of early Autumn.


Technical Info:

Taken with a Fuji X-T1
Fujinon XF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens @ 18mm

EXIF: ISO-200 / 0.4 sec / f/11
Lee filters:

RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW Converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Photo of the Month: September 2015

Dead Calm

7th September 2015, Lochan nan Corp, Ben Ledi, Trossachs

My second wild camp of the year, this time on the Bealach nan Corp (Pass of the Dead) at a height of 670m/2200ft on the northern slopes of Ben Ledi. After pitching my tent at sunset I walked up to the summit of Ben Ledi (879m/2884ft) by torchlight following a line of old rusty fence posts all the way to the top. The sky was clear, the stars were out, as was the Milky Way.  It was quite something to see against a black sky. The following morning I was up at dawn (6a.m.) to photograph Lochan nan Corp (small loch of the dead). The dawn sky proved to be clear with the central plain of Scotland covered in a blanket of fog. Eventually the sun rose high enough to light the eastern slopes of Ben Ledi with golden light that lasted for a few minutes.  Lochan nan Corp was dead calm.  The vapour trails of two airliners were mirrored in the lochan to suggest the flag of St Andrews. By 8a.m. I had struck camp and ready to descend when the midges came out in force. Suddenly it was no place to hang around.  I was down at the car park for 10a.m. where the first walker of the day asked me what time I had started. 

As a footnote, there is nothing sinister in the names as the pass is an ancient coffin route through the mountains. However, some say that the pass and the lochan were named after a coffin party tragically met their deaths by falling through the frozen waters of the lochan one winter.  This is highly unlikely given the lochan is quite shallow.   

Technical Info:

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T1
Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R lens
EXIF: ISO-200 / f/11 / 1/10sec

Lee filters:
RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Photo of the Month: August 2015

Legoland

25th August 2015, St Monans, East Neuk

After finishing a commission in St Monans I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the East Neuk.  The late-summer sun was too strong and high for landscape photography so I concentrated on the harbours to see if they would yield an opportunity. I didn't have to go too far. This is Virgin Square just along from Mid Shore where I had been working. I have always been drawn to this scene for its angular look.  The architecture is typical of the East Neuk but today there were two other factors which made it stand out. The strong lighting has created deep shadows which has given the scene an almost 3D appearance and the lack of vehicles which are usually parked in a line on the street. My Canon tilt-shift lens was put to good use here.  It is a specialist lens that gives me the ability to keep vertical lines straight as opposed to creating a wigwam effect, where the vertical lines appear to be converging, which happens when a standard lens is used. Very little post processing was done too as I used one of my own Picture Styles created within the camera menu to give me the look I was wanting. 

  
Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mk II
Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II tilt/shift lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / f/13 / 1/125 sec 
Lee filters: None 
Picture Style applied in camera: Landscape / Sharpening: +4 / Contrast: +3 / Highlight: +2 / Shadow: +1 / Tone: -1 / Saturation: -2

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP


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Photo of the Month: July 2015

Nights of Thunder

 3rd July 2015, Crombie, Fife

Another visit to my local fields to witness more sunset colour.  With thunderstorms forecast for the early hours the clear sky is starting to cloud over as the storms approach. The setting sun lights up the underside of the black clouds with fiery reds and oranges whilst clearer skies to the south change to deep blue.

 
Technical Info:

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T1
Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R lens
EXIF: ISO-200 / f/11 / 0.3sec

Lee filters: 0.6 GND Hard

RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9


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Photo of the Month: June 2015

Cast a Giant Shadow

14th June 2015, summit of Beinn Ghlas, Perthshire

Ben Lawers, at 3984ft (1214m) and on the north side of Loch Tay, is the highest mountain in Britain outside the Nevis and Cairngorms ranges.  The mountain path starts from the car park at Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve and climbs over Beinn Ghlas, which, at 1103m is also one of the highest peaks in Britain. I reached Beinn Ghlas a little after 8pm to explore its summit with a view to photographing Ben Lawers at sunset (due soon after 10pm). Just before 9:30pm the sun appeared from the clouds far to the NW and strong backlighting has cast giant shadows of Ben Lawers (L) and Beinn Ghlas (R) onto the hillsides on the far side of Loch Tay.  The tops of the shadows are 8km away. The clouds were only partially in direct sunlight which added another element to the composition.

I completed the ridge walk to Ben Lawers after sunset before retracing my steps down to my car well after midnight. A headtorch was not required until I reached the NNR below Beinn Ghlas as there was still enough ambient light in the sky to walk along the mountain paths unaided.  

Technical Info:

Taken with a Fuji X-T1
Fujinon XF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens @ 18mm

EXIF: ISO-200 / 1/28 sec / f/8
Lee filters: 0.6 Hard GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW Converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Photo of the Month: May 2015

Branch line

 22nd May 2015, Crombie, Fife

May this year has seen some very moody skies at sunset in western Fife. Fortunately I have a few very local spots where I can watch a sky develop from my car and decide how I am going to shoot it.  Sometimes I use small country lanes as my foreground lead-in but with the recent sunny weather the crops are now maturing and this allows me to use the tractor lines in the fields as a lead-in. Tonight's sunset was another spectacular one and the field is less than a mile from home.  
The image presented a challenge due to the large dynamic range between the shadow areas and the highlights in the sky on the horizon. In these situations I initially ignore the extreme highlights and bracket 3 exposures metering off the foreground, using a graduated neutral density filter to balance the sky. A 4th exposure was taken from a spot meter reading just above the horizon to capture the highlight detail.  The final image was manually blended from three of the four images taken using layer masks in Photoshop. 


Technical Info:

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T1
Fujinon XF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens @ 18mm

EXIF: ISO-200 / f/8 / 1/3 sec / 1/15 sec / 2/3 sec, 3 exposures blended
Lee filters: 

RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9


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Behind the shot: Wildcamp on Goatfell, Isle of Arran

This image was entered into WEX Photographic's weekly photography competition on Twitter called #WexMondays (20th April 2015) and they invited me to share a 'behind the shot' blog explaining why I chose it for #WexMondays, the gear and setting I used, post processing done and to give it a difficulty rating.

One of my objectives for 2015 is to take photography with me into wild places.  They may be places that are within easy reach of roads and settlements, or off the beaten track in more remote areas.  All will involve some form of hiking in/out and some will require an overnight stay in the form of a wild camp.

This was to be my first wild camp of the year, in fact, it's been a long time since I had done any wild camping.  I chose Arran because it started with 'A' and because I had never been there.  In tourist guides it is described as 'Scotland in Miniature' but what really drew me were the Arran Hills.  The highest is Goatfell which, at 874 metres, is higher than Blencathra or Fairfield in The Lakes.  To the north and west of Goatfell are more peaks all connected by jagged ridges, the traverse of which is considered to be the finest of its type outwith The Cuillins on Skye.  A foray into the Arran Hills would make a fine photographic adventure in a wild place. 

Wild camping and photography present its own challenge as you have to decide what to take and what to leave; the trick being to keep the weight of your rucksack to a manageable level so that you don't wear yourself out.  In terms of camera gear I took the following in a small camera bag: Fuji X-E2 with 14mm and 23mm XF prime lenses, 2 spare batteries, a set of Lee RF75 ND Grad filters & holder and 2 cloths.  This went inside my rucksack whilst a Giottos Vitruvian tripod was strapped to the outside.

My plan was simple.  Drive from my home in Fife and get the CalMac ferry from Ardrossan in North Ayrshire to Brodick, Arran. Hike from the ferry terminal to the top of Goatfell via the 'tourist' path (8km / 5 miles each way), set up my camp on the summit, photograph the sunset, get up early the following morning to photograph the dawn and sunrise before returning to Brodick for the ferry back to Ardrossan and home.

So today I took a boat ride across the Firth of Clyde on the MV Caledonian Isles arriving at Brodick Pier at 1:30pm on a hot afternoon with clear blue skies.  There were hundreds of passangers already queuing for the next sailing to Ardrossan.  The pier was a hive of activity.  In contrast, 4 hours later I was alone on top of Goatfell and it was the view above that greeted me on arriving at the summit.  It took my breath away.  With three hours until sunset I had ample time to explore the summit, set up camp and do some photography in the early evening light.  During the golden hour the light was even better before the cloud blackened and thickened up.  The sun made one final appearance on the horizon just before it set.  The following morning I awoke to rain, hail, wind and hill fog and it didn't lift from the hills until the early afternoon so no dawn/sunrise was seen.  After re-loading my pack I headed down to Brodick passing the first walkers of the day in the fog about 30 minutes from the summit.  They wanted to know what time I had started as they were hoping that they would be the first up on top today.  Technically they would be the first, as I didn't touch the cairn or trig point before setting off and a good-hearted discussion followed on the merits of wild camping.  I was back home in Fife by mid-afternoon.

I used the Fuji XF 14mm lens with Fuji X-E2 plus tripod for all the images that evening using the 2 sec. timer instead of a remote release (saved a few grams here).  Focus was set manually using the Depth of Field markings on the lens barrel to set the hyper-focal distance.  This allowed me to meter using 'spot' metering without worrying that it would change the point of focus. I dialed in f/11 and let the camera select the shutter speed.  A Lee 0.6 or 0.9 GND filter balanced exposure in the sky.  The images were taken in the Fuji RAW format. 

Monday evening and I had to work quickly to get my image into #WexMondays on time. The Fuji software is still relatively new to me and I developed the RAW file in Silkypix electing to use the defaults for everything except colour, which I changed from Standard to Velvia2.  This boosted the hues and saturation and made the image pop.  I uploaded to Twitter late on Monday evening.

On Tuesday morning I looked at the image again and decided it was a slightly too dark and over-saturated so developed the RAW file again keeping the defaults but used the curves command to create an 'S' shaped tone curve to keep the shadows and brighten the mid-tones.  The Velvia2 simulation was too overpowering for this scene so this was swapped for Velvia1 giving a more natural look.  Photoshop was used for cropping and applying some output sharpening. The final image is shown below.

In terms of giving it a difficulty rating I would give it 7/10.  It wasn't winter, there was no snow on the ground and there was a good footpath all the way to the summit.  You do have to be committed, have a reasonable level of fitness and be confident in your ability to go into wild places without relying on the assistance of others.  When the conditions are right the images that can be got will speak for themselves.  They will offer the viewer a fresh perspective on the landscape that is now becoming more difficult to achieve because of the sheer number of people who frequent the photographic hot spots near roads looking to photograph the iconic views.  There is much to recommend in this approach. 

More images from the evening spent on the summit of Goatfell are shown below as a series of plates.  Larger copies can be viewed simply by clicking on them.

An interactive Google map centred on Brodick is given below.

I am an outdoor photographer based in western Fife where I have been living for over 18-years. I work purely in the digital format.  A very experienced mountain walker, having been introduced to the fells of the Lake District from an early age, I have spent over 20-years climbing the Munros and Corbetts of the Scottish Highlands.