Skye 2023

Carbost also home to the Talisker Distillery one of the most well known peaty Scotch Whiskies. The Old Inn is the local pub and well placed by the loch with good food, local beers and on some nights traditional scottish music.

It is off the hard beaten roads, yet well placed for travel in all directions on the island. I know the location from before and it is very convenient for the Cuillins a big decision factor for us, there are however many good locations accross the entire island. If like me you like it quiet, even the main town "Portree" is small enough for a close local feel, even though it is a cross point for many eastern attractions.

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The image here is taken from "The Old Inn" bunkhouse, low winds, clear skies and warm temperatures were the key of the whole week, the challenge in Scotland is not normally trying to find interest in the sky for photography. This is very late in the evening, nothing is in direct sunlight. A polarising filter was used to improve contrast and lift the real colours in the fading light, the balance being to preserve and keep the reflections.

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35mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec., iso 100

With so many options, deciding where to go next was not easy. Talking to locals ideas of where to go for great scenery but relatively quiet is often the best way. Brothers Point was a clear favourite so off we went the next morning.

 

The car park is very small and some 100m from a small track, (nearly all people drive past on the way to the Storr & Quraing). Once there we walked down for 15 minutes and found this half-hidden treasure.

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This view of this old ruined settlement is looking past Brothers  Point towards the mainland; in the background, the tip of Raasey with Rona Lighthouse is just visible if you zoom in, (select from the gallary below), Beinn Alligin is the prominent peak, (actually two Monros).

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An unusually hot day, very clear air and some haze in the distance. Some scouting around found this single shot; f/13 allowed no visible deterioration to the distance and a sharp foreground in a single shot.

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With a little input from a CPL filter to keep highlights from the sea in check but not influencing the surreal natural colours, that was it.

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With such a potentially busy view keeping the eye drawn to the buildings hearth as the focal point is a fine balance, the bay leads directly to it as does the headland itself leading the eye through the view. There is virtually no distorsion in this image, the window frame at right really is leaning out so looking at this, you are there.

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32mm, f/13, 1/40 sec., iso 100

With so much to see it really can be tricky to find the candid shots when there is so much more to distract you. It is too easy to miss in a blink a great feature and opportunity for a unique photo.

 

This rock is easy to miss and most people do, as it looks this way only when there is strong shadow and only from a small angle of the sunlight. There is definately an impression of a face highlighted by the lichen on the rock.

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The longer focal length pulls in the features of the sea perfectly framing the subject and keeping it natural.

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The colour temperature looks very different from the shot above, the difference is the angle of the sun's light which is now higher behind. A polarising filter is used here, but only a little as always to maintain the correct colours whilst reducing managing any reflective glare.

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120mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec., iso 100

This view is earlier in the day so the sun's direction illuminates the features accross the image without flattening anything. The shot accross Loch Fada in the foreground, leads the eye directly to the small island then follows a natural curve to the Storr itself. The Marram Grass in the foreground gives a foreground in a very complimentary colour, grounding the view. Without this foreground the relative distances and elevations would be missing and leave the viewer needing to know more.

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The small island with distinctive tree has separation from the edge of the loch, keeping crisp objects for the viewer.

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A little editing was needed to strengthen the high altitude clouds preserving interest in the sky. I always maintain editing to an absolute minimum, only enough to show what the eye could really see.

 

The temptation is to pull out the longer lenses to focus on the distant subject but the balance and feel of the image is much better served when the bigger view places the object in it's real environment. As written above the whole view effortlessly and not obviously leads the viewer to the subject.

When we arrived at the Car Park for Neist point there was luckily still morning cloud and very calm air. So instead of going directly to the Point, we walked down the slope looking towards "Waterstein Head" and the other visible headlands. The cloud here lasted around an hour before the sun burnt them away.

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This was a large vista with a lot of open water which could have been shot many ways, but to make a photo interesting & more complete, 16mm was used for the perspective of the cloud, also to add depth and scale, 16mm brought in an interesting foreground, with Chris standing in to add scale and a focus, without which this image would lose significant interest.

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The addition af a polarising filter for the mirror reflections did not give the often unattractive halo with such a wide angle, something else you must watch out for.

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I like an image to be natural, I really don't like excessive editing. Here the only edits are a light contrast in the sky to enhance the darker clouds, and slightly lighter foreground and lighter green flank of the headland; all of these recreate what you see with your eye when you are there, nothing more. Your eyes adapt to what you look at, the camera takes a single image; many people use HDR but I dislike the fake feel it brings.

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16mm, f/8, 1/100 sec., iso 100

Any trip to Skye is very weather dependant and with photography you have to adapt your settings, viewpoints and planning to suit. On this day as for most of the week clear sun giving high contrasts and a lack of clouds were the elements to work around.

 

The peak on the headland is "An t-Aigeach" and with the lighthouse is the main feature, but the view selection here had several other points to consider, first how much is in and what to leave out? The headland to the left constrains the view and gives some depth, as do the people sat on the ground. The foreground is strong and balances the huge blue sky and sea, with nice balanced details, the risk is sometimes the foreground can be too dominant but here there is no doubt about the subject. The contrast between the bright rocks and the shadows of the headland sperate the elements of the view nicely, so being there at the right time was important.

 

The other significant conscious decision here was to keep the summit below the horizon and not interrupt it, this is opposite to normal thinking but with the plain sky and ocean clipping the peak would have put the image out of balance, this proves rules can be broken. Finally to compliment the scene is Chris walking to the camera for added depth and movement, he is also not breaking the horizon. All these points should be 90% instinctive, 10% pause and framing all natural in the thought process and not a setup.

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16mm, f/11, 1/80 sec., iso 100

A very different view of the same scene was found here. As the main subject is so much larger in the view, adding too much to the foreground would not improve but potentially clutter the image, think portrait here.

 

The horizon is broken but not randomly, the small rise at left is fully below and the lighthouse and is separated from the distant headland, also the horizon is not aligned with the colour band of the column, the lamphouse itself is fully clear. Being able to see the sea both sides of the lighthouse adds some separation and declutters, helping to balance the whole view.

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All is brought together by the symetry of the foreground and the ridge, with the shape of the coast leading you in.

 

Again, I try always to minimise post processing. Unless something really spoils a view or distracts I leave them there. The posts with the power lines to the lighthouse just add detail, interest and scale and make this an accurate record of what was really there in the view.

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19mm, f/11, 1/80 sec., iso 100

This actual view was much brighter than is shown here, 1/500 & f/11 was possible when shooting into the sun when still quite high above the horizon to eliminate "white out", yet see all the detail. A CPL filter was essentil, only very light editing has been used in a near straight-from-the-camera shot.

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In the background we can see the Outer Hebrides, "Eabhal", ("Eaval"), at 347m is the highest point on North Uist, it's conical profile dominates the relatively low-lying island. In this shot from Neist Point it dominates the distant view with it's neighbours, "Li a Dias" 281m and "Li a Tuath" 263m the twin mountains to the right.

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The multi blade iris in this high quality lens gives the stunning star-streaked effect - you must have a very clean lens for these shots.

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16mm, f/11, 1/500 sec, iso 100

No photographic masterclass here, just an opportune shot early in the morning. More a fly past at the beginning of an 11 hour drive.

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As there is nothing in the sky the eye doesn't try to follow it so this can be largely cut out of the Field of View.

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The main thing here of course is the reflections of the mountains of course, but the grass growing in the bog and the textures changing significantly as you go up through the image, make it less than as ordinary as it might have been.

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The Cuillins are unique in the UK, being very much an "Alpine" environment, steep slopes and 12 Monros, peaks over 3,000' arguably the best climbing in the British Isles. Probably the best known peak is "Skurr Nan Gillean" on the left with "Am Bastier" and the "Bastier Tooth" also prominent behind and "Bruach na Frith" to the right.

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Editing this could make it more powerfull as a photo, bet here is a record of what was there. The sun is still very low to the west.

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24mm, f/8, 1/100 sec, iso 100

Here is another example of almost drive by photography. We had an eleven hour drive ahead so didn't plan much time to stop anywhere. This particular view didn't show any sign of real interest until it popped into place just where we couldn't stop, so Chris rapidly jumped out and took this shot while Andy drove around in a couple of loops.

 

Though not on Skye, this scene qualifies for the blog, (just), as this is the road going south from Kyle of Lochalsh, so it is on just about every Skye visitors' loop.

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This photo was taken labout 30 to forty minutes after the Cuillin photo above, but the high altitude cloud was building, giving some feature to the sky, balancing the interesting but empty foreground.

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