Blue Hour at Kintail

Blue Hour at Kintail (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 21mm, Zomei ND0.9 & 0.6 grad filters (5 stops in total), 25 sec at f/11, ISO 200, tripod)

After a lovely day with too many small things happening to allow time for a proper outing with the camera I managed a quick trip with my wife along to Kintail just in time for the developing blue hour.  The snow on the hills was making them glow beautifully against an increasingly dark blue sky.  I chose one of my favourite locations near Ratagan, overlookig Loch Duich with the Five Sisters of Kintail and Ben Attow as a backdrop.  Using a combination of two of my ND Grad filters to balance the exposure, and my ultra-wide-angle lens (17-35mm), I set up in various places to try and get the old seaweed covered shore fence and the salmon trap in the foreground.  In processing, I selectively adjusted the colour balance a bit to bring out the colours in the foreground, a bit more like it actually was, and the above shot is the result.  I also tried converting this one to black & white using Silver Efex Pro II (see below)

Blue Hour at Kintail (B&W Conversion) (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 21mm, Zomei ND0.9 & 0.6 grad filters (5 stops in total), 25 sec at f/11, ISO 200, tripod)

On the way home the sun had pretty much set in the west but there was a faint glow behind the Cuillins on Skye and Eilean Donan Castle was all lit up for the night as usual.  I made a snap decision to pull into the deserted car park and shot these two images.

Eilean Donan Castle at the Bue Hour (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 32mm, 3.2 sec at f/8.0, ISO 100, tripod)

Eilean Donan Castle at the Bue Hour (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 27mm, 3.2 sec at f/8.0, ISO 100, tripod)