Approaching Glen Coe

It's always nice when the sun shines, but we get a lot of cloudy weather in the Scottish Highlands. If you want to make the most of your visit to this part of the world it is important that you learn how to produce worthwhile results whatever the weather conditions. It was raining when I took this shot, but it is one of my favourites and captures the atmosphere of the place better than a shot taken in the sunshine and with blue sky would have done.

Eilean Donan Castle

This is probably the most photographed castle in Britain. This shot, from the Carr Brae road, is a bit different from most you see. I particularly like the sky we had that day. It's important when shooting this sort of subject to have a plain background that contrasts with the subject in either tone or colour. I feel the high viewpoint has achieved this quite well.

Loch Caol in Autumn

Welcome to my blog! Over the coming months I shall be posting brand new images and also showing you my favourite images from the archives. I'm new to blogging so any comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Autumn is my favourite time of year and one of my favourite places on Skye is Loch Caol. Situated close to the Sligachan Hotel, it provides great foreground interest to go with that wonderful mountain backdrop.

A few technical notes - I always use a tripod unless I'm in a really awkward spot. Having framed the picture I want, I set an aperture that will give me slightly more depth of field than I need. It would be easy to shoot everything at f22 but the quality is not quite as good at such a small aperture, so I try not to stop down more than necessary. Exposure for a shot like this is very straightforward and the camera should do a good job on automatic. There are situations, however, where manual exposure is preferable, and so for the sake of consistency, I shoot everything on manual, taking spot readings from highlights, midtones and shadows as appropriate. I used a polarising filter for this shot, not to darken the sky but to darken the water in order to make the reeds stand out.

To buy a print, go to my Skye in Focus gallery