A short trip to Coigach & Assynt last weekend

Patchy Sunlight on the Lochs & Moorland at Achnahaird (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm F/4 L lens at 28mm, ISO 200, 1/160 sec at f/11, handheld)

Last weekend I had a short camping trip north to Altandhu with my friend Glyn Young, mainly with the object of doing photography, but also to get in a game of golf at Ullapool on the way home.  The weather was mixed on the Saturday, with very low cloud to begin with, clearing away a little later one, with some patchy sunshine.  Not ideal conditions as it turned out for photography but we managed a few good locations and the odd spot where the light was worth a try.  The above shot was taken above Achnahaird, looking north-west over the lochs and bogs of the peninsula.  There was a little patch on sunshine sneeking through the clouds, lighting up the ground beyond the nearest loch.  The grass is now turning amber as autumn approaches, producing a nice contrast with the clouds and little pathces of blue peeking through.  The following shot was taken to see if a closer perspective worked at all.  I quite like the contrast bewteen the bright patch and the rest of the moorland but also the bright loch in the foreground, contrasted against the brooding cloudy sky.

Sunlight on the Bog, Achnahaird (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm F/4L lens at 105mm, ISO 400, 1/80sec at f/22, Handheld)

Sunlit Passing Places, Achnahaird (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm F/4L lens at 67mm, ISO 200, 1/100sec at f/11, Handheld)

As usual I managed to take a shot of passing places.  In this case the road heading down towards Achnahairdf was brightly lit up by a patch of sunshine, set off beautifully against the murky grey of the low clouds on the Assynt hills in the background.  Ther passing places were highlighted wonderfully.

Our road trip took us along the coast road to Lochinver and on to Drumbeg.  We headed home via Ardvreck Castle on Loch Assynt where I took the following shot looking towards the limestone escarpment at Inchnadamph.  The rocks and old posts in the foreground add interest to what might otherwise have been a  dull scene.  The colours were pretty flat, as were the clouds, so I converted this to black & white and burned the sky a fair bit to bring out the details in the clouds.

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Glyn wanted to learn how to operate his camera in manual mode, so we did a bit of theory, for which the soft light from the overcast conditions was actually quite useful.  This portrait shot was taken, along with one at f/22 as a comparison using different apertures and the impact on depth of field.  I really like this shot, not only is it well focused with a good soft background, but Glyn's expression is brilliant.

Glyn (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens at 105mm, ISO 200, 1/500 sec at f/4.0, Handheld)