Loch Lomond

[Mande Daguerre]

Hi guys.

I was out tonight with my camera for the first time in a while, and I was determined to brave the freezing cold and head to the shores of Loch Lomond.
I actually met another Sony Alpha user while I was there, but I only saw the "alpha spotting" thread when I got back, otherwise I would have taken a shot of him.

Anyhoo...here are a few of the shots from tonight.

The tree you see in the shots, is quite often surrounded by the water, almost like a mangrove, but the water level was way down tonight, which is a shame, because it really does make for a great long exposure shot when partially submerged.

Tree-wide-04-small.jpg (496.1 KiB) Viewed 3059 times

Tree-wide-07-small.jpg (590.97 KiB) Viewed 3059 times

Tree-wide-11-crop-fnl-small.jpg (419.5 KiB) Viewed 3059 times

[aster]

Hi Mande,

Stunning lake shots. I can imagine how they must look in larger image sizes, they have a way of pulling the viewer into the scene.

Each is interesting for different reasons; the first is a stunning haze of blue; in the second one the flash light brings out the warm colours of the tree trunk that have a similar tint as the warm orange of the clouds; the third is an instantaneous love-on-first-sight for me with all the star constellations that fill the giant sky...

Very good set, thanks for sharing...

Yildiz

[Birma]

Hi Mande - I like #1 especially - what great colours in the sky and in the reflection. I agree that water around the tree would look really good as well. Well done for braving the cold. The "banks" have never looked "bonnier" .

[Greg Beetham]

I like the silhouette tree at dusk/sunset (very nice sunset lake scenes btw, it was worth the effort), better than the lit ones I think...but I love those stars in the last one, you wouldn't happen to have one like that with the tree silhouetted...perchance? just to compare.
Greg

[Mande Daguerre]

Like this one?

[Greg Beetham]

Ah! that's better, perhaps you could have done with a tad less black at the bottom..maybe, (replaced by a few more nice stars at the top), but much nicer I think.
Greg

[Mande Daguerre]

Thanks Greg.

It was a delicate balance. I was hoping to have picked up some more light on the ground during the long exposure, in order to show the tree's root system which is visible above the ground, but if I exposed the shot any longer, then I'd get star trails, so this shot didn't actually turn out as I'd originally planned, I only showed it because you asked for a silhouetted version of the highlighted tree & stars image posted previously.

I'm definitely going back to this location again soon though, and hopefully the water level will be higher, which means all that black will be filled with nice blues and reds reflected from the sky

MD

[Dr. Harout]

Awesome. Can't decide which is best. I think each one of them.

[Mande Daguerre]

Thanks Dr H.