Photoclubalpha

Currently visiting two of the Hebridean islands, this week the Isle of Skye and next week the Isle of Harris. Here are some pictures, which I'll add to as the 'tour' continues.


Glen Brittle Sands by Birm, on Flickr
A wet and windy day on the beach - lovely patterns in the sand. A700 with Tamron 17-50/2.8

Osedale Stones by Birm, on Flickr
Perhaps some prehistoric remains? Macleod's Tables are the hills in the distance. A700 with Tamron 11-18.

Osedale Burn by Birm, on Flickr
Near where we are staying on Skye. There are a pair of otters who live near by, and just after taking this I watched a pair of Golden Eagles quartering across the moor. My beercan was not up to the job though . A700 with Tamron 11-18 plus Hitech 10-stop filter (i'm quite pleased with the effect).

superb stuff,love the third one Birma

Thanks Tom . The colour may have something to do with the water itself - after running through the peat moorland it is the colour of strong tea (or perhaps Guiness!) which might warm the colour a little I suppose. I also tried a few shots with a screw in B&W ND filter (not 10 stops) but didn't like the colour and contrast (may be the tripod moved slightly adding blur during the 4 sec expsoure?). The slot in Hi-tech seemed much better. I had to zoom in to 13mm on the 11-18 to eliminate any vignetting from the slot in filter holder even though it is a "WA" cokin-type filter. Perhaps I'll have to get a proper Lee filter set-up at some point, or at least some big Lee filters but it all mounts up to the cost of lens so I don't feel able to justify it at the moment. I'm using ND grads less and less as PPing covers this a lot of the time.

Wonderful pictures. The third shot is perfect, never thought pictures with long exposure could be that great, but... this is something.

Thanks Gio67 and Daniel .

I will be trying some more long exposure pictures soon, I hope.

Birma wrote:Currently visiting two of the Hebridean islands, this week the Isle of Skye and next week the Isle of Harris.

Wonderful photos and it looks like a great place to be. I would like to visit there someday.

Hi Henry - thanks . It is a great place to visit - bring boots and a rain coat .

Hi Birma,

Enjoying the series immensley, your trips to Skye feel like a regular event that I always look forward to.

I have only been once to Skye and we got two part days of fine weather and the rest of the week fog and rain, but still enjoyed it - we stayed in Milovaig near Neist Point, and hope to go back there someday.

I look forward to the Harris pics

Best wishes

Paul

Great pictures, Birma. I'll never get to see these places in person so thanks for sharing.

Seeing as how it's drizzling here, I spent the morning looking up and reading about Skye Isle, lots of history there.
Nice crisp shots Birma, I enjoyed them as I always do, your holliday shots. I see you aren't/weren't too far from Cuillin, but that is over a rough walk by all accounts, and might be a bit far for the little one, maybe ok in a few years though.
Greg

My sentiments exactly the same as in the phrases above. : )

The last one of the stream taken with a slow shutter is amazing, Birma,

Looking forward to your next destination.

Yildiz

Yes, that last picture with the slow moving river is great. So are the other ones. Skye is the place to be when the weather co-operates. Going there later this month. Here is an image of the Cuillin Hills from Elgol taken in 2003 with my X700 and a Sigma 21-35mm MD fit lens I had then. I assure you that the colours are true. The second one is from 1995 using my XD7. Some walk in from the Elgol road past a place called Camasunary and then up on to Sgurr na Stri to take this picture of Loch Coruisk and the Cuillin Hills forming a horse shoe. The small isolated hill slightly to the right in the first picture is actually Sgurr na Stri. You can see that it provides a vantage point for photographing into Loch Coruisk. It's a day treck there and back.

You would need to be reasonably determined to visit Coruisk Loch (that's the one I saw the painting of), fairly rugged countryside in those parts, I've got more of an idea of the layout now after seeing those pictures of yours Alphaomega, though I'm not sure where the water that feeds the Loch comes from exactly, there doesn't seem to be much snow melt, so I guess it's just the amount of rain that falls in that area.
Greg