This episode is a study of green tree foliage and roads.
Tag Archives: Scotland
Inverawe Impressions (1/10)
This is the first in quite a long series of of blog posts.
Several years ago now, I spent a couple of years making one black and white image a day, every day, for nearly 2 years, concentrating a lot on the shapes and forms of trees in the Inverawe, Argyll, avoiding the contrasty light normally appreciated in landscape photography.
This new series takes the same fascination with filling space with shapes that caught my eye, but permits for colour. All images were taken in the course of a couple of hours on a return visit walking around the estate; for the most part they were shot at f/8 with HDR bracketing +/-1 EV, processed in RawTherapee, Darktable and digiKam.
That Tree: Millarrochy Oak
“Make Photo Here” – another total photographic cliché, but I figured it had to be done. The Milarrochy Oak on the shores of Loch Lomond.
What the photos don’t show you is that the tree is barely three yards from the edge of the carpark and, with a pleasant sunset behind it, there were four other photographers lined-up along the strip of beach.
It has the advantage of just being in the Highlands: the caravan-site at Milarrochy Bay is definitely north of the Highland Boundary Fault, on psammite and semi-pelite; while the oak tree itself is in a local igneous intrusion surrounded by sandstone conglomerate.
Obligatory Zig-Zag
I remember when I first saw a contact of mine on Flickr produce a photo of this scene, quite a few years ago now – and it’s become quite the cliché since.
So, take your pick: wide-angle 16:9 or 5:4 aspect ratio similar to large-format? Black and white or colour (not so often used in longer exposures)?
Me, I liked the light – cool shades of dusk on one side of the concrete break-water, remains of a sunny afternoon on the other.
Around a Graveyard
A small set of photos made in Kinnoull Graveyard, Perth.
A friend from the photo-society had posted a handful of photos of this graveyard on facebook a few days previously, so I had a few ideas for scenes to shoot when we went there last November.
In particular, the obvious manipulated moody photo is an example of bokeh-panorama aka Brenzer technique – using a comparatively long focal length lens at wide aperture to narrow the depth of field and stitching a panorama to restore the field of view angle. In this case, it was a Zeiss 50mm f/2.8 lens, but the resultant shot would require a lens of 13mm f/0.85 to achieve in a single exposure.
Up Kinnoull Hill: Wistful
A simple scene – I spotted this bramble silhouetted against the glowing low sun just as I was heading back down the hill to the carpark.
Up Kinnoull Hill: classic landscape
It has to be done – the view from Kinnoull Hill, past the folly looking along the River Tay wending its way through the Carse of Gowrie.
I made this photo partly because some scenes have to be done, and partly to test a new Carl Zeiss 50mm Tessar f/2.8 lens acquired for surprisingly-cheap on eBay. The wide-angle field of view comes from this being a panorama of 11 frames stitched together; at over 56 megapixels, there’s enough detail to easily resolve roof-tiles in the houses at the foot of the hill, or road-signs across the A90.
Up Kinnoull Hill: Strange Trees
Two different views on trees in the woods on Kinnoull Hill.
Both taken in bright sunny daylight; one tweaked to look more like dusk/night-time, the other processed for a high-key haze. Nice one, Darktable.
Up Kinnoull Hill: Nice Trees
Three photos of trees, taken on a stroll up Kinnoull Hill in Perth.
Perth by Night
A handful of photos taken after dark from the Queen’s Bridge in town, waiting for the fireworks to happen.
Around Mull
A small selection of photos from a weekend trip to Mull last September – a couple of views around Lochdon, Duart Castle from the ferry and Lismore Lighthouse basking in the sunlight on the way back.
Around Kilchurn Castle
It seems a while ago now, but last September I spent a weekend trundling around Argyll. The light on the Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful – so I spent a happy couple of hours standing on the shores of Loch Awe admiring the sunlight and mist on Ben Cruachan and Kilchurn Castle, as one does.
The Varying Moods of Scotland
Summer in the Highlands? Hold a Games, break out the pipes and drums and play Scotland the Brave.
Tourist season in Edinburgh? Break out the pipes and drums and play Scotland the Brave.
Autumn, pretending to be winter, in Perth? Break out the pipes and drums and play Scotland the Brave.
This was one of the above situations.
Bright Light / City
A fairly obvious shot from a viewing location on the south side of the Tay, the road bridge disappearing in a stream of lights flowing to Dundee in the fog. At night. As a long exposure, because it’s what one does, right?
Around St Fillan’s
Loch Earn is still an idyllic scene despite everyone stopping to take photos in St Fillan’s. Herewith, two obvious views:
Personally, I like this view instead:
People Watching / People Watching
There’s a time-/context-axis running from the far distance – first there was the landscape, then there was Robert Mulholland’s statue Still, then there’s people taking photos of it, then there’s me shooting them. All things considered, a bit “meta”.