Family, Photography and other misc news
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.
Very busy day today, spent the first part of the early morning on Isle of Skye, then the rest of the morning on board ship.
Lots of Herring Gulls, but also Guillemots swimming and flying by. Also incredibly lucky to see lots of Puffin’s, not just swimming and diving, but also flying past.
You would not believe how fast they can move. A 200mm f/2.8 lens with a 1.7 teleconverter, is not really long enough to catch them but I managed to get a few shots I am pleased with.
I was hoping to post a few pictures but Photoshop Express on the iPad cannot edit RAW files so I am afraid you will all have to wait.
Shooting from the ship was a major challenge, I was using a monopod to save my arms as a tripod was not really practical but the vibration from the engines was a problem. I had the VR (Vibration Reduction) mode of my lens set to active and kept my shutter speeds high, this meant shooting wide open most of the time, meaning depth of field was limited.
Restful day for us tomorrow, maybe some landscape scouting but not much else.
I noticed from a Twitter feed that TV presenter, wildlife photographer and general all round wildlife geek, Chris Peckham, has been on the Isle of Man filming for this years Spring Watch.
While I have been getting better and better photographs with each visit to my local parks and nature reserves, sometimes only a trip to some exotic locations do you feel will enable you to capture that killer shot.
Trips to Africa or the far East are expensive, and as the BBC’s Spring Watch program shows not strictly necessary. Many of the remoter areas of the British Isles have simply stunning scenery and wildlife and can often be a viable destination for a long weekend.
Chris was enjoying the sunshine, Cormerants and Lampreys, and a chocolate cake, it was his birthday on the Isle of Man. A great location for a long weekend.
One thing you must always remember is, that unless your visiting a zoo, nowhere guarantees seeing wildlife. Enjoy the visit, if you see anything, wonderful; and if you get your photograph, then that’s the icing on the cake.
Today finds us in Uig, a small port village in the north of the Isle of Skye. The camera gear is all packed in cases safely stored in our hotel room for the night. While we were tucking into fresh Scottish Scallops in a local restaurant: as we looked out over the bay, we could see Heron Gull’s wheeling overhead, while in the rock pools, Oystercatchers fished, Hooded Crows kept a lookout for an easy meal and Pied Wagtails also took a meal from the rock pools.
A fantastic wildlife sight. A sure lesson to always keep a camera to hand, unfortunately an iPhone and Nikon D200 with a 12-24mm f/4 are not suitable tools for birds!
Still a wonderful memory to file away.
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.
Something all photographers worry about, this the fourth in a series of posts. This time something a little different that you might not have thought of.
Are your shots tack sharp?
Try using your mirror lockup, something I always use on my
Hasselblad when shooting landscapes, most digital SLR’s have
this function these days.
On lower end DSL’s it is generally buried in a sub menu, but on higher end models there may be a dedicated button or dial.
I am no bird watcher and certainly no twitcher but I do enjoy a trip to the Park or Nature Reserve, either to just enjoy the view, walk or fresh air.
Often I’ll take the camera and photograph the birds.
That often leaves me with a problem. Recognising the birds. While I have books at home, sometimes you want to know there and then what it is you have spotted/photographed.
This is where your iPhone/iPod Touch comes in, together with an app called iBird UK (also available for other countries).
Download the limited free version and give it a trial. I am sure, like me after a short while you will end up buying it.
Now where is my UK iPad version!