Sometimes making time to get out a get some photos is difficult. With a young family, soon to be added to, getting a morning or evening out the house is tricky to negotiate with the other half to say the least. But since the end of last year, I’ve been following a twitter based photo contest organized by Wex Photographic. Concept is simple. On a Monday, post your best shot from the previous week and use the hashtag #WexMondays. The great thing I find is, it’s a wee reminder every week to get out there with the camera – this excuse is currently washing with the Mrs…
This week, out of the blue, I received I very nice email from Sophie, from the Wex team, asking if I would be happy to share the story behind my entry for last week – so here goes…
Last minute decision to hit the road and drive the short one and a half hours up to Loch Tulla last Saturday afternoon, but with clear skies forecast, I was hopeful for a nice sunset. I’d spent around an hour in amongst the bog at the Lochside, trying different angles and viewpoints, with varying degrees of success and as the sun was starting to set, I had it in my mind to drive ten minutes up the road to catch the sunset at Rannoch Moor. So tripod over the shoulder and a short hike back to the car up on the single track road. I drove along to the next passing place and whilst turning, I spotted this view. The elevated position and the near perfect positioning of the mansion estate, for me just worked. Handbrake on.
Immediately donned the 70-200 and set the tripod up so as to shoot below the telephone lines but above the deer fence (I hate cloning out distractions in post) After a few shots, I decided the water was too choppy and made the scene look complicated. Time to try and longer exposure, popped on my 10 stop ND filter, worked out the exposure. 61 seconds, f10, iso200 at 73mm. In Lightroom, basic adjustments made were to white balance (always needed with my ND filter), contrast, highlights, vibrance and sharpening. Then a square crop.
Technically not a hard shot to get, calculating the exposure time can be a bit hit or miss though. I find, they are not exactly 10 stops, or 6 stops whatever it may be, but after some trial and error you get to know your gear. Timing is key though – photographing landscapes at the beginning or end of the day generally boosts the look and feel of any image, adding nice long shadows and warm colours throughout.
Thanks for reading, already looking forward to viewing this weeks’ #WexMondays entries…