Torrin & Elgol

Bla Bheinn from the Broadford - Torrin road (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 45mm, ISO 100, 1/25 sec at f/22, Cokin P series 0.9 ND Soft Grad Filter, Tripod)

Despite warnings of a heatwave this weekend it was somewhat cool and overcast with a few bursts of modest sunshine in the north-west of Scotland today.  This promised some decent opportunities for photography so it was off to Skye, along the Broadford to Elgol road to see what I might find.  The timing was not ideal when I set off but the light improved as the afternoon moved on and I managed a few interesting shots of some of the most photographed parts of the island.  Nothing spectacular but a good momento of a lovely afternoon out.

The first shot, above, is of Bla Bheinn from the Boradford to Torrin road.  Usually folk stop by the shore of Loch Cille Chroisd for this view of Bla Bheinn, hoping for a reflection in the loch, but the surface of the loch was pretty well rippled today with the breeze, and I am building a collection of shots with Passing Places in them for a project I am working on, so I liked this unusual perspective.

Bla Bheinn from the shore at Kilbride (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 24mm, ISO 50, 0.3 sec at f/22, Cokin P series 0.9 ND Soft Grad Filter, Tripod)

This shot was taken from the rocky shore at Kilbride, looking towards Bla Bheinn.  I chose f/22 and focused on the smal island in the middle disctance, aiming to get somewhere close to the hyper-focal distance and hence the best depth of field possible.  In this case the foreground rocks and pool are nice and sharp as well as the distant mountain tops so I am pretty happy with how that worked out.  I also used my Cokin P Series 0.9 ND Soft Grad filter to retain some fo the detail in the brighter sky (this was used in most of my shots today).  The relatively long shutter speed has also prodced a lovely smooth surface on the foreground rock pool.

The next two shots were taken from Elgol, looking towards the Cuillins.  The first was a panorama of five shots, handheld, using my Sigma 70-300mm lens from the car park while the second was taken from the lower perspective of the beach using a single shot at a wider angle to capture more of the rocky foreground interest.

The Cuillins from Elgol Beach (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 70-300mm f/5.6-6.3 DG lens at 70mm, ISO 200, 1/500 sec at f/8.0, Panorama of 5 shots, Handheld)

The Cuillins and Rocky Shore at Elgol (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 17mm, ISO 50, 1/10 sec at f/22, Cokin P series 0.9 ND Soft Grad Filter, Tripod)

The final shot was taken from the Glasnakille road looking towards Elgol and the Cuillins.  The light was improving by this time and Elgol township was slightly illuminated by a patch of sunshine and the Cuillins looked really close.  I am not sure I really captured the foreshortened effect the way I had intended but I like the shot and will bear this location in mind for a future visit, perhaps really early one summer morning to catch the first light on the hills.

Elgol & the Cuillins from the Glasnakille road (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 35mm, ISO 100, 1/125 sec at f/10, Cokin P series 0.9 ND Soft Grad Filter, Tripod)