Glencoe - One Location, 3 Compositions
It’s almost impossible to drive through Glencoe and not want to stop to take some landscape photographs. In the blog this week I make an unscheduled stop in Glencoe and take 3 photographs from one location.
Glencoe
There are some locations for landscape photographers that are virtually impossible to drive through without stopping to take a photograph. In my mind, Glencoe is one such location. It is stunningly beautiful and impressive no matter the weather. I still have many happy memories of my last visit.
Check out this video of my last visit to Glencoe.
A few weeks ago I was heading up to Harris & Lewis for a week-long photography trip. With such an amazing destination one could be forgiven for trying to get there as soon as possible. However, when your route takes you through the heart of Glencoe there was no way I wasn’t going to take at least one photograph.
Fortunately for me, my journey from Devon would allow me to arrive in Glencoe for around sunset. With so many locations to pick from in Glencoe, what would I photograph?
Stob nan Cabar and Lochan na Fola
I first discovered the beauty of this location on a workshop I attended last year. Despite its grandeur, it’s not that well photographed and can be easily missed despite its roadside location. As I photographed it at dawn last time, I thought I would try it at dusk this time.
I wasn’t feeling any pressure to take an image so I spent a little more time experimenting with my composition. While I would normally only post one image from a location, I thought it would be interesting to show you the three variations I have.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Vertical), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, 0.8 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND Grad.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Landscape), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, 1.0 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND Grad.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Panoramic), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, 0.8 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser. 8 Image panoramic stitch, cropped to 6:17.
All three images benefit from the beautiful autumnal colours of the ground, and just the right amount of cloud cover to get some light reflected from the setting sun. While I do like all three, I think it is perhaps the first image I prefer the most. Though this scene would typically be shot in landscape orientation, the portrait orientation of the first image works well.
There are a couple of things I like about the first image. First of all the reflection is larger, and clearer giving it more impact. I also like all the triangles in the image. There is, of course, the mountain and its reflection, but also from the cloud in the top right of the image which leads you back to the mountain.
It was a long drive from Devon to get to Glencoe so I only had time to shoot this one location, but what a location. It was unfortunately dark when I drove back through Glencoe, but even this brief opportunity to photograph it again means its right up near the top of my list of locations to photograph again.
So which image composition did you like best? What is your favourite Glencoe location to photograph? Let me know in the comments below.
P.S. Harris & Lewis
Oh, that Harris & Lewis trip I mentioned at the start of this blog…well…I hope to have a blog and video posted right here in a couple of weeks time.
Kilchurn Castle: A 5 Minute Photo Adventure (Special Edition)
In this blog post, I share with you the story, photographs and video of a near perfect morning at Kilchurn Castle on the banks of Loch Awe in Scotland.
More Landscape Photography on Holiday
In my recent blog post on Dalveen Pass, I talked about my desire to fit in some landscape photography while on an Easter holiday with the family. Dalveen Pass was easy to fit in as it was a short detour off the M74 while on the drive up to Scotland.
I was really looking forward to my family holiday but there was really no way I was going to spend a week in the highlands of Scotland and not do some sort of landscape photography! Fortunately, my family agreed (kind of) and so I was able to take a morning off from holidaying and take my camera out to capture some images. But where to go?
Kilchurn Castle
I was staying in a small village just outside of Oban in Argyll, so I could feasibly drive to any number of amazing locations. The obvious choice was to go to Glencoe. I had amazing photography adventure there last year, and normally I wouldn't hesitate to go back, but in the back of my mind, there was a location I wanted to visit even more.
Scotland has many amazing castles to photograph, but to me, Kilchurn Castle is one of my favourites. I grew up only a few miles away from Kilchurn Castle and so I had seen it from the road many, many times. I'd even visited the castle a couple of times. However, now that I am a landscape photographer I was desperate to revisit the castle to photograph it.
Picking the Right Day
With the exception of one day, I could pick any of my holiday days to visit Kilchurn Castle. A quick check of the weather forecast showed that the first full day of my holiday was for very light winds. This was ideal for the type of shot I wanted as there was a good chance that Loch Awe would be very still and provide some great reflections.
The only trouble was that I would need to get up very early and I would be tired from a long drive the day before. However, if the conditions were to be as predicted it would be so worth it!
Let's see how I got on.
As you can see the conditions were a bit of a mixed bag. I certainly got the glassy reflections on the loch, but these annoyingly disappeared for a while when the sun came up. The sky was also a little too clear. Some clouds would have added something a little extra to the images, but on the whole, it was a pretty special morning. Well worth getting up early for!
One thing you didn't see in the video was the other photographers that were there. I always enjoy having a chat with other photographers and the conversations I had were very welcome and good distraction from the cold. One of the photographers I chatted to, Dan Rooke, also has a YouTube channel, and I recommend you check it out here.
So have you photographed Kilchurn Castle before? Where would you have gone if you had just one morning to take photographs? Let me know in the comments below.
The Photographs
Here is a selection of the photographs I took that morning.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 VR at 50mm, 1/5th sec at ISO 64, f/11, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 VR at 38mm, 6 secs at ISO 64, f/11, Lee Filters Circular Polariser and 6 stop ProGlass IRND.
Bit of a bonus photograph for you. As I drove home from Kilchurn Castle I noticed the near perfect reflections on the Pass of Brander so I just had to share this image with you.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 VR at 24mm, 1/50th sec at ISO 64, f/11, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.