Today marked the office start of the festive season with our tree being acquired and decorated in the lounge, as usual to the smooth tones of Nat King Cole.  I decided to try some close-ups of some of our favourite tree decorations but it was a bit dark and difficult to get sharp images.  I guess I need to take a bit more time with a tripod and longer exposure I think.

I recently splashed ut on some very cheap studio lights and a backdrop frame from Ebay and thought I ought to try it out.  Due to the lack of willing models I decided to try and do some self portaiture, a big challenge.  However, I managed to persuade Ciara to sit for a few test shots as well.  The above photos are the best I managed, shown here in both black & white and colour for comparison.  When it comes to portaiture I am firmly in the B&W camp but would welcome feedback.

In Ciara's case I had a light mounted with a white brolley off to her left as you look at the photo and my camera mounted flash aiming off right to bounce off a gold reflector to provide a warmer glow from the right.  I think this worked quite well.  I also used the largest aperture and darkened down the backdrop in Lightroom since it came rather creased and despite my best efforts it remains so.  For the self portrait I had the same lighting but both from the left this time producing a shaddow and low-key effect on the right.  I tried lots fo shots but this was the only reasonable one, which will now become my profle picture on FB - I need a better model!!  Any volunteers?

What is it they say about a red sky at night, well if it is true we are in for a bit of a storm, or at least a change from the wonderful high pressure weather we have had for the past few days.  This shot was taken from the bottom of our drive looking down Kylerhea.  It didn't last too long and the temperature has definitely started to fall below the zero mark.  Let's hope the forecasters have it wrong and we are set to have this for a while yet.

Just back from a weekend in Assynt.  I was involved with some work with the Assynt Foundation yesterday and stayed up overnight.  So an early start yesterday morning and again today yielded some fantastic photography opportunities.  These are a few of the best shots, mostly of my favourite places, I bet you can't guess why...

It is the Firest of December and as is our usual tradition the window lights and Yuletide wreath go up to start the seasonal festivities.  I had hoped for a clear starry night to try and get a really long exposure of the lights with the stars shining above the house but no such luck tonight.  This was a delicate balance between having a long enough exposure to capture the lights with a little bit of fill-flash to get some of the detail of the house as well, but not too bright either.  I think this worked reasonably well.  Next weekend it will be the turn of the tree - happy days.