Photographing Scotland's Most EPIC Landscapes - The Isles of Harris and Lewis
What if I told you there was a photography location that has everything? Somewhere that will inspire your creativity, provide you with a sense of calm, but also excite you with a rich variety of subjects to photograph. And all this in on a small Scottish Island. Welcome to The Outer Hebrides!
A Return to the Ultimate Landscape Photography Location in the UK
Back in 2018 I made my first visit to The Outer Hebrides and the Isles of Harris and Lewis. From the moment I visited my first location and stood on the beach at Luskentyre I knew this place would capture my heart (photographically speaking). I spent the next week exploring and photographing some of the most spectacular and amazing scenery I had ever seen in the UK. As soon as I left, I wanted to go back. And go back soon.
However, as most you will know, life has a funny habit of getting in the way of such grand plans and it would be nearly 6 years before I was able to return. My memories of that amazing island didn’t fade over that time and I told anyone that would listen that they must also visit Harris & Lewis, even if they weren’t a photographer.
So, when an opportunity presented itself to return to this magical island I jumped at the chance. Not even a two-day road trip was enough to put me off reaching my Hebridean destination.
The problem with setting high expectations is that it can often lead to disappointment. Surely the Isles of Harris & Lewis wouldn’t do that to me? Though I didn’t film at every location I photographed, I hope this video will give you an idea of what it was like there. Was I disappointed or am I already thinking about going back? Enjoy!
Landscape Photographs of Harris and Lewis
Here are the landscape photographs that you saw in the video. I captured and processed about twice as many, but I had to draw the line somewhere!
Giving the Gift of Photography
In this blog article I show you how I print and package my photographs before sending them out to clients.
The Gift That Keeps Giving
There’s no doubt that my trip to Lewis and Harris last year, was my 2018 photographic highlight. Being able to immerse myself in photography in such an epic location was amazing. Not only did I get some wonderful images from the trip, but I also got to make a video of my trip, and create a home gallery of the images I captured. It’s fair to say it was a pretty successful trip!
While I was in Harris, I stayed at a really nice property that my friend and I rented for the week. At the time, I thought it would be really nice to offer the owner a print of one of the images I captured on the trip. They might just like a print of a local spot to display on the wall. When I got home and I’d processed all of the photographs, I sent an email to the owner and asked if they would like a print. To my delight, they came straight back to me and said yes!
This was great news, but I didn’t just want to print an image and stick it in the post. I wanted them that have a bit of an experience when they received it. So I got my thinking hat on and got to work on how I was going to package my print.
In the video below, I’ll show you exactly how I’ve packaged my print and describe everything I’ve used to create my unique Julian Baird Photography print experience.
What I Used
I used a number of products in the video, and if you are interested, I’ve listed them below:
Logo and card design by Neil Burnell - Fine Art Photography
An Experience Worth Repeating
All of this may seem a lot of work just to send one person a print, but this won’t be the last print I package and send out. I’m already printing and packaging another order, this time for one of the photographs taken in The Trossachs. It feels great to be able to share my work in this way and to know that people are displaying one of my images in their home.
I do hope you enjoyed this blog post and video. Do you do something similar with your photographs? What packaging do you use? Let me know in the comments below.
Print Giveaway!
At the end of the video, I said I was giving away one of my prints! The lucky winner can choose an A4 print from any image in my portfolio or from my Harris and Lewis collection, and I will package it up in the same way as you saw in this video.
All you need to do is to leave a comment on this blog article with the text “I Love Printing”, and you will be included in the draw. Draw closes on 31st March 2019. Good luck!
Creating a Landscape Photography Gallery at Home
In the blog this week, I show you how I created my very own home gallery of images from Harris & Lewis using some fantastic papers from Fotospeed.
Printing Landscape Photographs at Home
If you’ve been reading my blog or watching my YouTube channel for a while you know I’m a big fan of printing! For me it’s an exciting part of the photographic process as I take a digital image and make it a physical photograph.
Regular readers/viewers will also know that last year I was lucky enough to photograph one of my bucket list locations, the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis. I managed to capture some wonderful images but after sharing them on this blog, and social media, I knew I was going to not only have to print one image but a whole gallery of them!
I thought this would make for an interesting video, so I’m very pleased to share with you this video on how I went about creating my very own landscape photography gallery at home.
My Landscape Photography Adventure to the Outer Hebrides
As I mentioned in the video I created a video of my adventure to the Outer Hebrides, so if you are interested in seeing how some of the photographs I used in this printing video were created, you can see it here:
Products Used in Video
In the video I also said I would list out some of the products and equipment I used to create the gallery:
Fotospeed papers:
FYI - You can find the Fotospeed Tips and Tricks Facebook page here.
Printed using a Canon Pixma Pro-10S
Picture frames from Picture Frames Express
Those white cotton gloves I use to handle the paper
My Other Printing and Processing Videos
I also mentioned in the video that I would share with you all my other videos on printing and processing:
There’s Always Something to Print
I do hope you enjoyed my video on creating your own landscape photography gallery, and hopefully it has inspired you to print a little more. I highly recommend it!
Do you print at home? Do you have somewhere to create your own gallery? Is there another video on printing you would like to see me produce? Let me know in the comments below.
GREAT Landscape Photography Locations on Harris and Lewis
Looking for a new bucket list location for your landscape photography? In the blog this week, I share with you some of the amazing locations I discovered while photographing two of the Outer Hebrides most famous locations, Harris and Lewis.
Harris and Lewis - Photography Bucket List Locations
I can’t remember when the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis made it onto my bucket list of landscape photography locations. I’m not entirely sure what inspired me to want to go there. Maybe it was a Thomas Heaton video from Harris or seeing some holiday photographs from my sister.
Maybe it wasn’t just one thing, but rather it came through a gradual consumption of media and photographs from this most stunning Scottish location. No matter how it made it on to my list, I had decided that early on in 2018 that I was committed to making the long journey back into my homeland and onwards to the Outer Hebrides.
Immersing Myself in Photography
Time is precious and the amount of time I can normally commit to just doing landscape photography is limited. Things would be different on this trip though. Where my longest landscape photography adventures had normally been limited to a long weekend, this trip would see me commit 9 days. Nine whole days of landscape photography!
Actually, it was going to be nearer to 5 days. From Devon, it’s a two-day drive there and a two day drive back. It is over 650 miles one way, and you also need to get a ferry for part of the journey. That aside, 5 days is way more than I normally get to allocate to my passion. Besides, the journey wouldn’t be so long as I had a mate coming long with me. Plenty of time to catch up and chat.
I also set myself some clear priorities. This trip was going to be all about my photography. The weather gods hadn’t been kind to me in 2018 and I felt I wasn’t taking the images I knew I could. This trip was going to change that and I was going immerse myself in landscape photography.
With the decision to immerse myself in stills photography, I also made the decision not to make creating content for my YouTube channel a priority. The stills photography would be the top priority. My goal for the trip was to capture great landscape images. However, I do love creating content for my YouTube channel so I wasn’t going to go all the way to Harris and Lewis and not film anything.
The Journey Up
Our plan was to get as far as Glencoe on the first day. With a bit of luck, we’d get there before sunset and grab some shots. Fortunately for us, we did and you can see the results in the blog post Glencoe - One Location, 3 Compositions.
Our luck the next day soon ran out though. Not only was the weather not suitable for any sort of landscape photography, but the winds had picked up to gale force and it looked like the ferry crossing would be cancelled. Well, it appeared as if the captain of the boat wasn’t going to let a thing like the wind stop him from sailing, so we eventually left Uig at 9 pm. There wasn’t going to be a sunset shoot on Harris that day, but we were at least going to be making the crossing that evening.
Now the Story Really Starts
It was dark when we arrived in Tarbert, and it was dark when the alarm went off the next day for the first of our sunrise shoots. Having seen nothing of Harris so far we set off in the dark and headed to Luskentyre beach. This is the point where I move the storytelling from the blog to the vlog.
Photographs, Locations and Information
You will have noticed in the video that I didn’t talk about some of the locations we visited. I only showed the photographs. As I said earlier though, I really wanted this trip to be about immersing myself in my photography and not having to worry about talking to the camera.
So you have a more complete picture (excuse the pun) of my trip to Harris and Lewis, the next few sections of this blog post will feature all the images you saw in the video, along with the camera settings, and where they were taken. I hope you will find this information useful and the photographs inspiring.
If you are looking for a bit more inspiration, and more details on some of the locations I visited, be sure to check out Dougie Cunningham's excellent book Photographing Scotland.
Luskentyre Beach #1
No visit to Harris would be complete without going to Luskentyre. I found the photography here so inspiring that I photographed it almost every day.
North Harris from Luskentyre Beach, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/13, 3 seconds at ISO 200, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Pull of the Tide at Luskentyre Beach, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/13, 2 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Dunes of Luskentyre Beach #2, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 20 mm, f/13, 1/5th second at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Northton Saltings
This interesting location is easy to access as it is right beside the road. Take some wellies though!
Stormy Saltings, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 15 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, IRND and ND Grad.
The S in Saltings, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 35 mm, f/13, 15 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, IRND and ND Grad.
Northon Saltings from Above, Isle of Harris - DJI Mavic Pro, 1/100th second at ISO 126, 26 mm at f/2.2.
Traigh Mheilein
Not the easiest beach to get to, but worth the walk.
Traigh Mheilein, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 32 mm, f/13, 62 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, IRND and ND Grad.
Stac a' Phris
A spectacular coastline made even more impressive with the Stac a' Phris sea arch.
Turbulent Water at Stac a' Phris, Isle of Lewis - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, f/11, 1 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Stac a' Phris, Isle of Lewis - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 20 mm, f/11, 2 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Sunset at Stac a' Phris, Isle of Lewis - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 21 mm, f/11, 5 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Luskentyre Beach #2
The 2nd visit proved even more amazing than the first!
Sunrise at Luskentyre Dunes, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, f/13, 1 second at ISO 100, Lee Filters Circular ND Grad.
Sky Fire at Luskentyre, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, f/13, 0.6 seconds at ISO 100, Lee Filters Circular ND Grad, single image crop at 6:17.
Mangurstadh Stacks
Another dramatic coastal location on the Isle of Lewis.
Mangurstadh Stacks, Isle of Lewis - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 52 mm, f/11, 119 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, IRND and ND Grad.
Tràigh Scarasta
There are so many beaches to photograph on Harris, but if you like patterns in your sand this one is well worth a visit.
Tràigh Scarasta, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/13, 69 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Tràigh Scarasta (ICM), Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 24 mm, f/22, 1/4 second at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad.
Tràigh Sheileboist
I know it’s another beach, but even in the wildest of conditions it’s possible to get an image at one of the many golden beaches on Harris.
Tràigh Sheileboist, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 26 mm, f/13, 30 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and ND Grad. Single image crop at 6:17
Luskentyre Beach #3
Last of the Luskentyre images…promise! (It was such an amazing location!)
Tranquility at Luskentyre, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/13, 3 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND and ND Grad.
Sand, Wind and Time, Luskentyre, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 25 mm, f/13, 25 seconds at ISO 64, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND and ND Grad.
The Pastel Shades of Luskentyre, Luskentyre, Isle of Harris - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, f/13, 144 seconds at ISO 400, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND and ND Grad.
Luskentyre Beach Panorama, Isle of Harris - DJI Mavic Pro, 1/50th second at ISO 161, 26 mm at f/2.2, 9 image stitch cropped at 6:17.
A Tearful Goodbye
After 5 whole days of photography, it was sadly time to go home. We were really rather lucky with the conditions we got. The Outer Hebrides aren’t exactly known for settled weather but we managed to make it out every day with the camera. Some days were definitely more challenging than others, but even in wild conditions this magical place had something to offer.
As for the trip home ,that was similar to the trip up. The ferry was delayed due to bad weather so no chance of a sunset shoot back on the mainland, and the conditions the following morning were flat grey and overcast. As we headed down the M6 past the Lake District I didn’t even feel bad for passing it by as I had memory cards full of amazing images and video.
I do hope this blog post and video has given you a sense of not only what my adventure was like, but also what it is like to photograph Harris and Lewis. It truly is one of the most amazing landscapes I’ve ever photographed. From its dramatic coastal locations, grand mountains and open moorland, it never failed to surprise me. There was a real sense of awe. I grew up in the highlands of Scotland and now live in Devon so I know a good landscape, but Harris and Lewis were something special.
Are you planning a trip to the Outer Hebrides? Which photograph or locations was your favourite? What locations are on your bucket list? Let me know in the comments.