Uploads from James G Photography, tagged cullin, with geodata

Bla Bheinn (Blaven)

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:19:08 -0700

Bla Bheinn is a fantastic mountain on Skye and perhaps the most pretty to look at on the island.

Not quite part of the Cullin standing separately but with a lot of it's characteristics it's a great mountain to climb, like we did the day before.

There was a nice dusting of snow on this morning and quite liked the fact there literally was two seasons in one shot.

Also, that can't be a bad house to live in can it? Thought it really helped give scale too.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Elgol - I don't believe it!

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:04:02 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

As per my previous upload from Elgol I hinted I may have come back with something special on a subsequent visit.

The day after my last upload I paid a revisit and this time it was teeming with photographers so it was time to go for a walk. We had arrived early learning quickly from the ever-changing weather of Skye and the best light always seeming to happen at the start of golden hour.

We walked probably about half a mile around the coast, if not more and it's very tough on that ground especially in wellies. We had gone around a point on the coast and noted at the time if the tide came in we could get into a pickle though the banks of the cliff's looked passable though not ideal.

We plonked ourselves in position finding some nice foreground rocks with a good view to the Cullin.

I stood basically as close to the sea you could get and as feared the tide was coming in and lapping up against the rocks, while sorting my initial composition a large wave came in which had me reaching to save my camera from getting a socking which meant rushing back with the camera still attached the tripod.

What I didn't realise though is that in those moments of doing so I had accidentally caught the aperture control wheel. I re-set up my composition hurriedly and fired off a few shots as the light was no doubt at its best at this point.

Disater though, because I didn't realise I was shooting at f/22 rather than my usual f/11 and by the time I had realised the best of the light had passed.

Still, I decided to process this photo and upload it because I'm under the mindset that surely it's better to have "that image" even it's not technically perfect than rather than not have it at all? After all I could perhaps take one of the f/11 images taken later also and squeeze every last detail out of it in lightroom and use that, but perhaps it's worse bending the truth than using the real thing that's not technically correct?

To be honest also, the effect of diffraction appears to be minimal, the rocks still look relatively sharp after a little bit of sharpening and as most of the scene is the sea you don't notice it and as the Cullin has passing rain in front of you also don't see the effect here either. The A77 also at 24mp means I probably can get away with more, if I resized to a 12mp image how many of you could actually tell at 100% either?

Thoughts on a postcard please and sorry for the essay!

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Sligachan Bridge

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:04:22 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

Sligachan is on the Isle Of Skye and the location is famous for access to the black Cullin, it's views and of course the famous old stone bridge that crosses the river.

We had been to Portree and The Storr for the day, it had been horrible weather all day with heavy rain and hail.

However on our way back, we pulled into the hotel carpark and I then decided after witnessing Skye's changeable weather twice already to wait around and see if anything happened.

Still slightly getting used to these weather systems, we sat in the car from about 4:30 in the pouring rain expecting nothing to happen. About 5:15, earlier than expected the rain stopped and a break in the clouds came producing some fantastic scattered light around which saw us rushing for our cameras and getting the tripods set up.

Not ideal obviously, we really should have been set up and waiting but we didn't see the point in the heavy rain.

Anyway, this shot is a little different to what most expect from the place actually looking to the Red Cullin rather than the Black Cullin as the light dances on the mountain of Sgurr Mahiri.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Clear Cullin

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:57:14 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

My final shot from Elgol (I promise!!)

Perhaps a little different from all the sunset shots you see from this location.

The morning this shot was taken (see my Bla Bheinn shot) we woke up to snow on the tops. The weather then proceeded to throw it down all day but about 2pm it started to have passing bits of light.

We headed to Elgol seeing the clouds were high in the hope of getting cloud free summits. We were pleased to be greeted with this sight, though the snow had mostly gone.

Believe it or not we were in full waterproofs as 10 minutes before this shot there was a huge downpour and this bit of blue sky was honestly brief.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Bla Bheinn (Blaven) Sunrise

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:18:41 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

Another one of Bla Bheinn at dawn, well actually it took until about 9am for this little bit of light to strike the tops.

Not so keen on this image, but always good to have it in collection I suppose.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Sligachan Cullin

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:39:19 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

A very famous site for anyone that's ever looked for photos of Skye or who has been there.

The Black Cullin dominate the landscape from Sligachan enticing you perhaps to even take a stroll.

After a heavy downpour waiting at the hotel, the rain passed and after the sun had gone behind the mountains but not properly down this scene unfolded.

Admittedly I've got a variation with better light in the scene but the interest in the shot is much less. I really liked the perfectly still water mirroring all the drama in the skies and was really taken back with the huge storm cloud on the right look even more imposing than the Cullin.

I also don't mind having a little bit of the hotel in to the right, I composed a shot without it and also tried cropping this but it just cuts into that lovely cloud too much for my liking.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Colourful Cullin

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:38:57 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

Walking back from where we had stood in one of my previous Elgol images the clouds started to take on a fantastic colour and the wet rocks were picking up some colour and light too despite the sun having gone past the horizon.

I quickly set up, this time checked my settings (haha) and took a few quick snaps and was quite pleased with this one.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk

Elgol

nobody@flickr.com (James G Photography) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:30:56 -0700

James G Photography posted a photo:

So my first trip to Skye, ever.

I got there about 4pm after driving for 10 hours in the rain, with low cloud and what looked to be a week of bad weather.

However, about 4:30pm I could see the sun trying to break through. Tired? No matter, jumped straight back in the car and headed for my first experience of the classic location, Elgol.

Fleeting light was passing over the hills on our drive over, but unfortunately by the time we had arrived and set up we only managed to witness the light and not capture it. We learnt quite quickly in the Scottish Weather to be ready for sunset about 5pm and sunrise around 8:30am.

I took this as my first ever image of the location, still quite nice I think with a certain subtlety to the tones and some great textures and a lot of movement in that water.

Many more to come from the week, including an amazing sunset from Elgol on one of the subsequent nights.

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All images are Copyright © James Grant Photography 2011.
Please visit my website for more information on how to purchase this image @ www.jamesgphotography.co.uk