2-day Landscape Photography Workshop in Scotland, September 2018

Hello Steemians!

Today I will share some details and selected photographs from my recent 2-day Landscape Photography Workshop with Lutz & Anke, lovely people from Germany. We went through spots around Glen Coe and Glen Etive area on Day 1 and Glen Shiel, Loch Duich and Elgol, Isle of Skye on Day 2.

DAY 1

Glencoe Lochan & Pap of Glencoe
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According to weather forecasts it supposed to be cloudy day with some sunshine but turned out to be very sunny with almost clear sky. It's not the worst conditions, especially when you visit Scotland but it's not the best weather for landscape photography. The blue sky and harsh light makes landscapes look a bit 'flat' and it's very difficult to capture some scenes with overexposed highlights and underexposed shadows. ND graduated filters help a bit but if you use them for the blue sky with addition of polarising filter the blues turn into very dark, almost black colour which doesn't look natural.

We started around Bishop's Bay at Loch Leven which looks vibrant and nice on sunny days and it is always a great starting point to discuss the settings, filters and compositions...

Bishop's Bay, Loch Leven

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Next we went for a hike around Glencoe Lochan, great place for family walk but also to take photographs, especially when water is still with fantastic reflections of surrounding trees and mountains...

Glencoe Lochan
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Another great spot for some reflections is Torren Lochan, small lake surrounded by trees and Bidean nam Biann in background. You can find this spot going on the single track narrow road from Glencoe Village towards Clachaig Inn, it's after Red Squirrel Campsite, on the right, just before Clachaig Inn. As the summer slowly turns into Autumn now colours also change into yellows and oranges...

Torren Lochan & Bidean nam Bian, Glen Coe

We planned to photograph Three Sisters of Glen Coe (mountains in the Glen Coe valley) from higher and lower viewpoints but on a sunny day it really doesn't work. Sun is just above the mountains in front of you so sky is very bright and mountains covered in shadow are lacking any details. They look much better on a cloudy day or at sunrise/early morning as the Sun is behind/to the left of you and gives nice light on the mountains. We skipped this view and went for spot at River Coupall with Lagangarbh Hut and Buachaille Etive Mor in background. You can easily find it when leaving Glen Coe towards Rannoch Moor, it will be on your right hand side. We used ND filter (7 stops) to slow down shutter speed, Circular Polarising filter that cuts off reflections and soft ND graduated filter to darken the sky. Late afternoon Sun dropped some lovely warm light on the grass and mountain and we were pleased how the shots turned out...

River Coupall, Lagangarbh Hut and Buachaille Etive Mor
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We finsihed the first day at Glen Etive with photographing River Etive and Lochan Urr, unfortunately sunset didn't deliver any colours and I was focused on helping Lutz taking photographs so didn't take any photographs in Glen Etive myself.

DAY 2

Second day also looked sunny but with more clouds mixed with sunshine. We drove from Inverness to Glen Shiel stopping at few spots photographed below...

View at Loch Cluanie and Glen Shiel mountains with old tree trunk in foreground

The viewpoint around Old Bridge at the heart of Glen Shiel is always worth the stop with great views on both sides of the grassy hill, just a short walk from parking bay...

Perfect mix of clouds and sunshine breaking through drops lovely patches of light moving through the landscape...
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View from the grassy hill looking back at old bridge and surrounding mountains
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After Glen Shiel I took Lutz and Anke to the high viewpoint above Ratagan village overlooking Loch Duich and Five Sisters of Kintail. To find it you need to turn left towards Glendale and just follow the road that climbs up the hill. Please make sure you have good brakes and drive carefully as the road is very steep in places and very narrow, any incoming cars driving down from the hill may not be able to stop immediately and I will avoid this road/viewpoint if there is snow and/or ice on the hill. Otherwise, it's worth the drive as it takes you pretty high and offers stunning views...

Loch Duich and surrounding mountains from Ratagan viewpoint
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The Five Sisters of Kintail photographed from Ratagan viewpoint
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Next destination - viewpoints around Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyleakin looking towards the Skye Bridge. As we approached Skye it become cloudier and darker.

The first viewpoint is on the top of a hill just before Kyle of Lochalsh when you drive from Dornie towards Isle of Skye.

View of the Kyle of Lochalsh harbour, Skye bridge and Red Cuillin mountains in background...
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Viewpoint near Kyleakin can be found just after the roundabout when you cross Skye Bridge, just go straight on into narrow road and shortly you will see parking bay on right and a path (Cnoc Trail) that will take you to this viewpoint. It can be stunning on a day with rainbow or dramatic sky, it was a bit grey and very cloudy when we got there...

Eilan Ban lighthouse & Skye Bridge from Kyleakin viewpoint
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Our final destination on the second day was Elgol on Isle of Skye which is one of the best spots for evening/sunset shooting. You get there by taking the left turn from Broadford and driving the whole single track road until you arrive to Elgol harbour at the shore of Loch Scavaig. If you plan to be there at sunset it is worth to reserve extra time for stopping on the way to photograph Blaven and Loch Slappin and also for the driving because the road is narrow, very often blocked by sheep, cows or other slow drivers. Elgol itself is worth the drive, even if it's cloudy and dark it just looks spectacular. You can practise longer exposures, capture crashing waves (if it's high tide) or just wander around the rocks (carefully!) and take various compositions if it's low tide.

As we approached Elgol it started to rain and the whole sky turned yellow/orange from the low setting Sun. Quite incredible spectacle to start with and when we arrived to car park at harbour we were welcomed by evening rainbow.

Elgol village and dramatic evening sky with rainbow
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The light was lovely but colours didn't last long so we tried to capture various scenes before Sun disappeared behind the horizon. I had to use couple of ND graduated filters (0.9 soft & 0.6 soft) to darken the bright sky and be able to capture details in much darker foreground.
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After sunset colours quickly faded away but the views were still great so we spent some time on taking longer exposure shots with ND filters (6 & 10 stops). The combination of detailed sharp rocks in foreground, smooth water blurred by longer exposure and moody Black Cuillin mountains beyond works very well.

One of the last scenes - long exposure shot of Loch Scavaig & The Black Cuillin after sunset

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