Evening in Kishorn & Loch Carron

The Cuillins of Skye from Achintraid, Kishorn (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma APO DG 150-500mm Lens at 150mm, ISO 100, 1/400 sec at f/9.0, Tripod)

This afternoon/evening I headed over to Kishorn with Aileen to drop off our daughter, Eilsh, and her friend Ellen for a sleepover.  It was such a lovely day and having been stuck indoors all day I was keen to try and get some photos so I took the big backpack with all my DSLR kit.  I was fortunate with the timing and as we arrived at Achintraid the sun was just setting behind the Cuillins on Skye.  I took this first shot with my Sigma 150-500 mm lens at 150mm zoom, on the tripod.  It actually looked quite a bit brighter than this image suggests but because I was zoomed in a bit the colours we captured in their full vibrancy, missing out most of the brighter sky above.  This was one reason for not taking a wider angle shot.  I tried the following shot at a slightly bigger zoom, to focus more on the area where the sun was disappearing behind the hills.  Not much difference really but I like the slightly wider angle better.

The Sun Setting Behind the Cuillins of Skye from Achintraid, Kishorn (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma APO DG 150-500mm Lens at 186mm, ISO 100, 1/125 sec at f/9.0, Tripod)

The same setting sun was lighting up the Applecross Hills from the left and there was a really nice cloud sitting just above the Bealach na Ba which made an otherwise not very inspiring shot really come alive.  The next two shots were taken from the same place, the first at 17mm zoom and the second at 35mm, thus cutting out the foreground rocks.  I like the first one becuase of the texture of the rocks but the colours in the second are more vibrant and there is no distraction from the boat mast and house off to the right as there is in the first one.

The Applecross Hills from Achintraid, Kishorn (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8 L USM Lens at 17mm, ISO 400, 1/50 sec at f/16, Tripod)

The Applecross Hills from Achintraid, Kishorn (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8 L USM Lens at 35mm, ISO 400, 1/100 sec at f/16, Tripod)

On the way over I took the following shof the Bealach na Ba above Lochcarron.  The shot was lit strongly from the left (west) as the sun was getitng low on the horizon and the topography was emphasised nicely as a result of the low angle of the light.  As you can see I was lucky that the cloud had lifted from the Bealach by the time we got over the hill to Achintraid (just over the hill a bit on the road that can be seen disappearing into the distance).

The Bealach na Ba from above Loch Carron (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma DG 70-300mm f/5.6 Lens at 300mm, ISO 400, 1/250 sec at f/10, Tripod)

Whiel at Achintraid I spotted an old dilapidated stone pen with a bunch of creels and bouys in it and thought it might make an interesting compostion.  The light was not very good by that stage so I didn't take much time thinking about it but I might well pop back and try again at a better time of day.  Still, I converted this shot to black & white and it makes an interesting shot I think.

Old Stone Pen with Creels & Bouys, Achintraid (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L USM Lens at 90mm, ISO 250, 3.2 sec at f/22, Tripod)

Finally on the way home I just had to stop at the loch side, near the avalanche shelter, to take the following shot looking down Loch Carron towards the setting sun.  The colours and reflections made this a must and while there is not much interest in the sky I still think it works quite nicely.

Relections of the Setting Sun, Loch Carron (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L LensLens at 35mm, ISO 100, 4 sec at f/22, Tripod)