Photo of the Month: October 2014

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland

 8th October 2014, Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland Coast

Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumberland Coast. There is not much of it left but its dramatic location on a prominent headland, part of the Whin Sill geological formation, means it is popular with photographers, especially at sunrise.
Lit by the late afternoon sun and with a high tide bringing big waves and a lot of sea spray, conditions were fairly dramatic. I didn't want to freeze the action in the waves by using a fast shutter speed. Nor was it possible to decrease the shutter speed to 1 second to create a sense of movement in the waves.  In the end I went for the opposite look and by using a Lee Big Stopper filter I was able to bring the exposure down to 45 seconds which has smoothed out the wave action and created ghosting over the rocks to suggest movement in the sea. Black and white development has increased the mood further.

 

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 45 sec / f/11
Lee filters: 0.6 Hard GND / Big Stopper (10-stop ND)

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with Topaz B&W Effects II plug-in

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Photo of the Month: September 2014

Ben A'an sunset

11th September 2014, Ben A'an, The Trossachs

Ben A'an lies in the heart of The Trossachs within Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.  It translates as 'small rocky peak' which is very apt because from the viewpoint on the Dukes Pass, which carries the A821 over to Aberfoyle, it does look like a miniature mountain with a craggy cone-shaped summit, cliffs and steep slopes that descend west to Loch Katrine.  It has two summits; at 461m its east summit is higher, but it is the rockier west summit, at 451m, which gets the visitors for the view it commands over The Trossachs to Ben Venue and westwards along Loch Katrine towards the Arrochar Alps. I climbed up for the sunset and, like earlier in the year, had the summit to myself. At this time of the year the sun sets at the far end of Loch Katrine and lit up the summit rocks as it did so.

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 1/6 sec / f/16
Lee filters: 0.6 Hard GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Photo of the Month: August 2014

Slipway, St Monans Harbour

 7th August 2014, St Monans, East Neuk, Fife

I generally avoid photographing coastal scenes in the middle of summer when the sun has just past its zenith and beating down on all and sundry.  I had parked in St Monans to visit the Pittenweem Arts Festival just along the coast.  The tide had just started to ebb with the end of the stone slipway still wet which looked good in 'live view'.  To smooth the water I used a 10-stop ND filter and a Polarising filter helped with the glare. A shaded my lens/filters from the sun using a small pop-up reflector.  It sounds complicated but it only took a few minutes to set up.  To get the look I was wanting I used a Photoshop Plug-in called Topaz Adjust to bring out the textures in the stone and add some contrast.

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 30 sec / f/11
Filters: Lee Big Stopper (10-stop ND); B&W Polariser
RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in AdobePhotoshop CS5 and Topaz Adjust.

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Photo of the Month: July 2014

Heads and Tails, Cleish Hills

26th July 2014, Cleish Hills

Woke up at 4:15 a.m. as bright as a button.  Last nights weather forecaster had predicted that the eastern side of Scotland would be affected by a haar, or fog, which would roll in from the North Sea overnight. Looking out of the window there was no fog at all but I still got up and headed for the Cleish Hills.  It's a 20 minute drive on quiet roads, the final stretch being on the narrow hill road through Blairadam Forest. I glimpsed the fog just as I was coming out of the forest and my first reaction was to punch the air in triumph.  It was a sea of fog stretching to the horizon over much of the old county of Kinross-shire.  Poking through the fog were the hills around Loch Leven; Benarty and Bishop Hill with the dome of West Lomond behind.  With few clouds the red hues of the dawn sky subsided to blue once the suns disc had cut the horizon behind Bishop Hill.  The fog was still in shadow but eventually, as the sun rose higher, its light started to reflect off the fog which took on a yellow glow.  Just before 6 a.m. two horses appeared and came over to say hello.  Their profiles were caught by the light from the sun which was gaining strength rapidly as the minutes ticked by.  I was back home for 6:30am feeling elated.  Time for a brew before switching on the PC.

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 1/25 sec / f/11 
Lee filters: 0.9 Hard GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Photo of the Month: June 2014

Balvaird Castle

6th June 2014, Balvaird Castle, Perthshire

Balvaird Castle is a late medieval tower house built around 1500 on the crest of a low hill in the eastern Ochil Hills.  Because of its strategic position it commands views in all directions.  It is under the guardianship of Historic Scotland. I've visited the castle on an evening a few times through the spring but the light has never been right for what I wanted.  Tonight was different though and what I found really striking was the spectrum of colour in the sky; from deep blues to the fiery reds, oranges and yellows of the setting sun far to the North-West. Today was also the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy and it was a fitting location to be 'at the going down of the sun'.

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 1 sec @ f/11 x 3 frames, stitched

Lee filters: 0.6 Hard GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

Commended image - 'Landscape' category - SLPOTY 2014
 
Featured in Scottish Field Magazine - Scotland through a Lens - Mar 2015


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Go Local - The Kelpies, Helix Park, Falkirk

The Kelpies are monuments to the heavy-horse heritage of the industrial central belt of Scotland.  Modelled by master sculptor Andy Scott using two Clydesdale horses as models, they stand on a loch basin of the Clyde and Forth Canal at The Helix, Falkirk.  Each horse head is 30metres high and weighs 300 tonnes.  The plates are made of highly polished stainless steel which means that they reflect whatever light falls on them.  Click on the links to learn more about these sculptures which have only recently been open to the public.

I visited for the first time tonight.  The official car park closes at 8:30pm and a barrier is lowered over the access road at this time so if your not out be 8:30pm then your car is in for the night.  There are alternatives to parking in the official car park but they involve lengthy walks.  I found a parking area on the main A905 road near the bridge over the River Carron and accessed the loch basin via the towpath along the new section of canal that has been cut parallel to the river and which goes under the motorway.  The M9 hems in the site on its eastern side but it also means that passing motorists get an incredible view of the Kelpies. More of an issue is the electricity power supply pylons and cables to the west which, for some photographers, will distract from the clean aesthetics of the sculptures.  Notwithstanding this the sculptures are mighty impressive and from any angle the definition and detail that the artist has captured in the heads is incredible.  The sky was developing nicely when I left home but by sunset the cloud cover was too extensive over to the north-west where the sun sets at this time of the year.  In contrast the clouds moved away after sunset leaving a clear sky.  Being only 12 miles from home, I'll be back.

 
With The Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift that lifts boats between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, Falkirk now has two of the most iconic canal visitor attractions anywhere in the world.

Photo of the Month: May 2014

Pittenweem harbour, East Neuk, Fife

18th May 2014, Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife

Pittenweem harbour in the East Neuk. It has the largest fleet of commercial fishing boats in Fife as well as a fish market and some of the oldest buildings in the East Neuk.  I have spent many hours here photographing along the quayside.  On this particular evening the inner harbour was like a millpond as the sun was setting on a brooding sky. A graduated neutral density filter added some definition to the sky and the final image was created by stitching together two overlapping frames. 

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 2.5 sec @ f/11  x 2 frames, stitched

Lee filters: 0.6 Soft GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

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