last post

It has been an interesting experiment, but I've decided that blogging is not for me. I will continue to post pictures on Flickr (skye-steve) if you want to see what I'm up to. I've been exploring a bit of local woodland recently, so here's a shot from that session:

Pobull Fhinn



Scottish skies are often very dramatic and to make the most of them I often need to use graduated filters to balance the exposure. If you have more than one grad, it's best to switch to manual spot metering. The reading from the bracken is the one that will be used for the actual exposure. A reading is then taken from the brightest bit of sky and if this is 3 stops (3 EV) brighter than the bracken then a 2 or 3 stop grad will be used, depending on how much drama is required in the sky.

Close-up landscapes

Close-up landscapes are a particular favourite of mine and so I'm happy to comment on this one, sent in by Gordon. The water is well-exposed and the chosen shutter speed certainly shows the movement in the water. The water creates an interesting pattern by flowing in various directions, but unfortunately this pattern is rather obscured by the large log. Because of its position the log dominates the picture, and I have to say that I don't find it very interesting. Things like this succeed either because of their texture, which we can't really see too well at this size, or because of their shape, and unfortunately this is not a very interesting shape. I like the stones and greenery at the top right, but it gets a bit messy moving left from there. Simplicity is usually the key to success on a shot like this.

The day before Christmas

When you get unusual conditions like this it can be difficult knowing where to go, so it's nice to have a little database (on the computer or just in your mind) of places that you know will be ideal for certain types of weather or certain lighting conditions. It's only by continually revisiting the same locations that you acquire this sort of information.

reader's image for discussion

Thanks to Gordon for being brave enough to send this one in.

Firstly the things I like about the image. The sky is a good colour and has some nice clouds. I like the fact that the image contains areas of light and shade rather than being uniformly lit all over. The viaduct adds an element of interest to what would otherwise be a rather empty scene.

Now for the bad news! The part of the landscape that is illuminated has very little of interest in it. The lighting does nothing to bring out the texture of the hillside or its shape. The area of shadow is too large - it should not be larger than the sunlit area. The main point of interest (the viaduct) is too far away and rather blends in with the background. The sheep are too small to make a significant contribution to the composition.

Let me see your pictures

I'd like to make this blog more interactive and so I'm inviting everyone to send me a picture (just one a week) to feature and to talk about. We'll give it a try for a few weeks and see how it goes. They can be good, bad or indifferent.

Here's one I took a couple of months ago:

Merry Christmas!

Watching the river flow

One of my favourite occupations is exploring mountain streams. Here on Skye it is possible to follow a river from the sea all the way to its source in just a few hours. This produces literally hundreds of potential photographs. To take full advantage of the opportunities you will need a telephoto lens. I would normally stop down to f22 in order to get a slow shutter speed of around 1/8sec. This of course requires you to carry a tripod. If the light is good, or you have a camera that produces good results at high ISO settings, you can also shoot with a wide aperture in order to freeze the movement of the water. These are the only options I would consider. Intermediate shutter speeds do got give very attractive results. As always composition is very important and the simplest pictures are generally the best.

In praise of the compact

Many landscape photographers are also keen walkers/hikers/trekkers and this creates something of a dilemma. Burdening yourself with a lot of heavy equipment will make the walk less enjoyable and, if you are continually stopping to set up a tripod, you will not be popular with your walking companions. The solution is to use a compact camera that can be carried in a pocket or shoulder bag. With auto-exposure and auto-focus all you have to do is frame and shoot. Modern compacts have a wide range of focal lengths, enabling you to successfully frame the subject whether it is 10 feet away or 10 miles away. To avoid the perennial problem of burnt-out skies, it is advisable to underexpose by something like 2/3 of a stop. Areas of the picture that are too dark can afterwards be corrected using Photoshop.

This was taken on our recent Himalayan trek.

Back to Loch Caol

Wide angle lenses have always been popular with landscape photographers but it is very easy to misuse them. Their very nature means that whatever you put in the foreground is going to dominate the picture and so achieving a balance between background and foreground can be difficult. It is very important to ensure that the foreground doesn't dominate to the exclusion of everything else.

I shall be on holiday for the next couple of weeks so the next blog won't be until 10 December.

Cumbrian Fells

The sky can make a big contribution to a landscape picture, but it can also dilute the picture's impact if it is lacking in interest. Many photographers, however, have a very rigid attitude to skies and will insist on including them even when they don't add anything to the picture. I'm hoping that this image will demonstrate that you can have a good landscape without a sky.

One Tree Road

These days many photographers shoot everything in colour and then think about converting to black and white afterwards. I think that is the wrong way to approach monochrome photography. To really see in black and white takes practice and the best approach in my opinion is to devote yourself to it for a day, a week, a month or however long it takes. Trying to shoot colour and black and white on the same day makes life too complicated!

This particular shot was taken somewhere near the Lancashire/Yorkshire border using film and a red filter. The contrast was further enhanced by printing at grade 5. Many photographers seem to think that it is essential to achieve good detail throughout the picture and use hdr techniques to achieve it. My approach with this shot, was quite different. I wanted to remove detail in order to simplify and therefore strengthen the composition.

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