Family, Photography and other misc news
Officially I am all booked up for June now, but I hate to let charities down and always do my best to squeeze them in. I offer either a free shoot or one at cost depending what is involved.
So now I have an extra weekend studio shoot squeezed in. Some simple studio Portraits, but should be fun.
While I have the studio I might try and fit in a tfcd shoot, so if your a local model and want some simple portraits, drop me a line a line at the usual email address (see RBPhotographic).
Sometimes arranging a photographic shoot seems like one big complicated jigsaw.
My availability, the Studios availability, and the models availability; getting it all sorted can sometimes take days. Lets not forget, prop’s that have to be sourced, and sometimes a hairdresser and makeup artist.
One my photographic shoots that I am arranging currently feels just like that complicated Jigsaw.
Luckily I am dealing with a very professional model who understands these things.
Sometimes I think I should just take a pretty girl into a meadow and just shoot with natural light, but then you get weather issues.
99% of photography is nothing to do with taking the actual pictures!
Need to get images out of Lightroom and into your WordPress blog?
Terry White might just have found the answer!
We have been blessed with good weather but it was only natural that at some point we would have a day of rain.
With heavy rain and full rivers and streams the waterfalls were in full flow. While the light was not conductive to landscape photography I took a number of pictures for reference.
Today we crossed from Harris to the Isle of Skye. Not as much bird life present on this crossing as before but we still managed to spot Puffins, Gannet and Terns, but the highlight was two Dolphins who came to play briefly in the bow-wave of the ship.
Now we find ourselves relaxing in the bar of the Glencoe Hotel, enjoying a bottle wine while waiting for the sunset.
Today we donned our walking gear and ruck sacks and spent the day walking round the Butt of Lewis and part of the coastal footpath.
The weather was glorious, very windy but warm and sunny.
On part of the route we climbed down into one of the bays and enjoyed lunch on the pure White sandy beach, looking out over the blue-green Ocean. As we ate the Oystercatchers also wheeled overhead also looking for lunch, but as we climbed up the cliff back to the top, I turned to see two Oystercatchers mating where we had been having lunch.
The Butt of Lewis is certainly a place to return to, with a long lens and flask of tea. I could spend many a happy hour wildlife spotting.
We saw, Cormorants, Oystercatchers, Ring Plovers and Gannets. The previous day Orca’s and seals were spotted.
This year has been the first time that we have not spotted seals and Otters in Scotland, but to make up for that we have seen Puffins a first for us, but there is still time.
The last few days we have been exploring Harris & Lewis on foot, by car and by horseback.
Tuesday saw us exploring Stornaway, on the Isle of Lewis. First we set out on foot for a short walk round the harbour and bay of Stornaway. The majority of the walk was inside the grounds of Stornaway castle, so an easy walk but that’s not to say it was without stunning scenery.
We had a few heavy rain showers at the start, always a test when you have not been walking for a while, but the sun soon came out to leave us bathed in wonderful warm sunshine.
Wednesday we jumped in the car and went down to the Isle of Harris, the home of the famous Harris Tweed.
The beaches were fantastic, Luskentyre beach looking over the Sound of Taransay has to be one of the finest beaches I have ever seen. We also heard our first Cuckoo.
We took a few snaps and in one of the better spots, I saw another photographer setup with tripod, waiting for the sun to emerge.
We drove to the other side of the Sound and stopped briefly at an Art Gallery called Hebridean Art. Some lovely paintings and we indulged in some retail therapy, buying a book of prints and a pretty ceramic dish.
They also served food and drink, and we had one of the best soups I had ever tasted. I had the vegetable and Caroline the Mushroom; served with fresh coffee and some lovely hot and fresh focaccia bread.
We carried on travelling round the Isle and reached a lovely little church called St Clement’s in Roghadal. We carried in the cameras and tripod, and I took the opportunity to practiced my HDR.
We ended the day treating ourselves to some classic Harris Tweed Jackets, while on Harris and a meal out in a lovely restaurant called Digby Chicks back on Lewis. The food was lovely, much better then the name of the restaurant suggests. I can recommend the Lamb and the Duck.
Thursday. Exploring the bay on horse back.
Today was a new experience for us both. We hired a couple of horses from the Hebridean Equestrian Centre, and after a quick lesson for me, as Caroline is the experienced horse rider not me, we headed through the country side. After a river crossing we headed for a large bay and spent the morning riding through the surf, an unforgettable experience for us both.
Thanks goes to Paddy (my steed), Jinty (Caroline’s steed), and Lucy our guide Carol’s steed.
Taken on my iPhone.
The Isle of Lewis has some wonderful archaeological sites. In particular there are a number of fine prehistoric stone circles.
By midmorning we had visited four stone circles. The weather was, shall we say interesting. Dark storm clouds kept whipping, by but glimpses of blue kept appearing in the distance, illuminating patches of hillside.
I set up the camera and waited for the light to appear. Oh so very briefly a shaft of sunlight appeared, but by the time I had metered the scene, and set the mirror lock-up, just before I tripped the cable release the sun disappeared.
We waited a while but then a few drops of rain started to fall. So with that we packed up and walked back to the car over the peat bog.
By the time we had reached the car the rain had blown over and the stone circle was again illuminated in a shaft of bright sunlight. A lesson in patience I think.
The next two circles while warranting a visit did not get blessed with the light.
The last circle was the most impressive, and the visitors centre made a most impressive Latte. Now the dark clouds had blown over and we were blessed with golden sunlight which lasted the rest of the day. Unfortunately brilliant sunshine while chocolate box pretty does not evoke the drama that dark clouds and shafts of brilliant sunshine can evoke.
Maybe better luck next time. Landscape photography is certainly not an easy art!
Photographed on my iPhone and Edited in Adobe Photoshop Express.
My Landscape Photography definitely has a manmade influence. Most of my Landscapes are of manmade structures, old Bridges, Piers, Abbey ruins and Churches.
For your true Landscapes, then an early start is essential. Up here in the Outer Hebrides Dawn today was about 04:00am and Sunrise at 05:10.
At 04:30am this morning, I could be found down at the bay setting up the medium format camera gear. Early starts is not something I find easy, but when in a location like this, a Sunrise is hard to resist.
Installing Lightroom presets can be a little tricky but Mat from Lightroom Killer Tips has recently found out, there is a far easy way.
Just Drag and drop the preset file on to your Lightroom icon in the dock.
Thanks Matt.
Of course that is if your a Mac user. If you’re a Windows user then double click the preset file. It will most likely say it does not understand the file type. Associate the file type with Lightroom and then double click will install it.
Have not tried it in Windows, as I do not have a Windows machine handy to test it on, only Apple Mac’s, Linux, and Solaris at present. Must rebuild that Windows 7 test machine of mine.