articles/Landscape/The-Beauty-of-Skye-page2

Duncan Cauchi on The Beauty of Skye - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Duncan Cauchi Published 25/03/2020

From my various travels to Scotland, I always prefer to go farther north as this is where the countryside becomes more rural and untouched by man. A personal favourite is Isle of Skye as it has an extensive choice for diverse wildlife, historic sites and natural beauty. I keep returning there as it has a particular charm, which is made even more intriguing when hearing about their historical beliefs in druids and the mystic arts. The first destination we travelled to was Portree which is a great place to set up base, as it is relatively central to many attractive locations. One such are The Bride’s Veil falls, which give excellent opportunity for a long exposure. In fact, I managed to capture a 2-second exposure at f/16 using a Haida Drop-in circular polariser to eliminate water reflections. For good composition I intentionally placed the river in the diagonal isto give a sense of direction from left to right while capturing the Old Man o' Storr in the background.

an hour of hard walking, one can take excellent shots providing the weather is favourable. Unfortunately, this was not the case for us – we were engulfed in a blanket of low cloud. The next day we headed for the Fairy Pools, which are considered a natural waterfall phenomenon, whose beauty was further enhanced by a light sheath of snow. Here we headed towards the falls, but as we started to cross the first stream, we were hit by a heavy snowstorm, delaying our climb considerably. However, it was worth it, as once it passed we had clear skies, which provided the excellent blue-sky contrast. Here the exposure was not easy to calculate because of the brightness of the snow. Not to blow out the snowy glens I started by using a Haida ND 4 Soft Grad which gave me an exposure of 1/250 at f8, which translates to a two-minute exposure when adding a 15-stop ND. While waiting for the two minutes to pass, I decided to cut it short at 94 seconds so as not to have over blown highlights in the clouds and snowy areas.

• Duncan Cauchi on The Beauty of Skye page 1
  
• Duncan Cauchi on The Beauty of Skye page 2
  
• Duncan Cauchi on The Beauty of Skye page 3
  

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