Critique Some recents from Glencoe

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Ranger Smith
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Steve
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I spent a most wonderful Sunday evening (between rain showers and gusts of wind at the Torren Lochan). There were some moments where the water was not still due to rain and horrible wind but the rain had the most welcome effect of clearing the air so the clarity was just wonderful after the rain. The rain has nicely topped up the water levels too and now it's proper summer. Lovely green lush trees and lovely green grasses on the hills. It was magic to be honest although not quite as warm as I like.

_DSC1726 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

A brief while later after more horrible wind and some rain it got calm and the clouds aligned nicely again.

_DSC1730 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

The really wonderful thing about summer is that the time between sunset and sunrise is very small. A quick, but comfortable and restorative nap in the car saw me at the famous falls in Glencoe (yes there are others further up but I've never grabbed a summer shot from here) so I got this

_DSC4230 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr
 
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Great set as usual Steve.
Never managed a trip to the Lochan where it's been as still as that. The reflections are great.
The last one is a cracker too.
 
Great set as usual Steve.
Never managed a trip to the Lochan where it's been as still as that. The reflections are great.
The last one is a cracker too.

Thanks - pick an evening and one where the met office say the wind will be no more than 3mph and gusts below 7mph and you'll get it done. Ideally you really need winds at like wind 1 gust 2 maybe 3 for the very best most super still mirror finishes but they just about pass my "water bottoms" test (where the reflections are unbroken). Actually they don't but they're way too good to bin.

The last - thanks - took a bundle before this then binned them as soon as the light showed. Even with a filter it's a tad under exposed but that pesky sky near the tree is easy to blow out. It was also incredibly still so got a few where all the branches in the tree are tack sharp (which can be hard if you're doing a semi long exposure for a waterfall and the tree branches move slightly). It's all about getting that perfect shot where everything is motionless bar the water.

A good "days" work :D
 
Third image is beautiful.
 
Thanks - pick an evening and one where the met office say the wind will be no more than 3mph and gusts below 7mph and you'll get it done. Ideally you really need winds at like wind 1 gust 2 maybe 3 for the very best most super still mirror finishes but they just about pass my "water bottoms" test (where the reflections are unbroken). Actually they don't but they're way too good to bin.

The last - thanks - took a bundle before this then binned them as soon as the light showed. Even with a filter it's a tad under exposed but that pesky sky near the tree is easy to blow out. It was also incredibly still so got a few where all the branches in the tree are tack sharp (which can be hard if you're doing a semi long exposure for a waterfall and the tree branches move slightly). It's all about getting that perfect shot where everything is motionless bar the water.

A good "days" work :D

It's a stunning shot.
I was there in May last year but didn't manage a sunrise.
The balance of exposing for the sky and the waterfall is tricky. Did you consider doing an exposure blend? One shot for the sky with tree branches sharp blended with a longer exposure for the water?
 
It's a stunning shot.
I was there in May last year but didn't manage a sunrise.
The balance of exposing for the sky and the waterfall is tricky. Did you consider doing an exposure blend? One shot for the sky with tree branches sharp blended with a longer exposure for the water?

That’s a very good idea - I didn’t but it would work. Here I used a 0.9 soft graduated ND filter - it gets it in. Maybe I should have stacked a 0.3 soft on to help.

Weather is really what let’s this place down. Getting the right light on a still day isn’t easy.
 
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