Scotland's Highlands - Glencoe Landscape Photography In The Rain

in this episode we get wet and muddy in the Scottish Highlands well we uh we got lost oh you lost a so much for your bloody sa have then 2 minutes of Glorious light where everything just lines up perfectly now you are talking I think you nailed it I just rather fly by the seat of my soil pants it's terrible shooting conditions but that looks perfect this is my favorite kind of light tickling the base the sun has broken through and he illuminated Castle stalker oh it's it's it's just sideways rain now well you have been a [Music] bugger hello Roy Wilson Roy Roy how you doing Gavin yeah oh bloody hell what are you doing now you booger well we uh we got lost the satav did not uh take us to where we wanted to go oh you lost that yeah so much for your bloody sa have then I I was wondering if you had your map oh yeah I've got me map oh you do I'll get you on the right track lad yeah so I think we we took a left turn just before bed more right I've got me maps I know where you at yeah Carry On Down Road for a couple of Mile and turn left all right yeah and then turn right yeah then turn right yeah a couple of mil further on and about 2 m out Road you come to a petrol filling station yeah they sell road maps and I get in there and get one Bo and shove that Bloody GPS up your ass you D booger well you have been a bugger so I just decided to get up in the hills and see what I could find and it didn't take me long to find a diamond oh man have I found the spot you'll have to forgive the noise because I'm I'm right next to the creek I'm basically standing in the creek fact let me bring this up to M Gob a bit closer I did not know that this place existed I I've never seen a shot of this place I'm sure there are many I've just never seen one I'm not saying I'm the first but I've never bothered to come up here how I've stumbled across this I'm trying to get to this mountain here so that I can shoot across at that one I think I'm on the wrong trail I think I should have just gone straight up it but this this is a proper Trail so I followed it thinking that this was the right one anyway I don't think it is but I'm delighted that I've made this mistake if I have indeed made a mistake so what I've got with this composition I'll brighten it up a bit is this beautiful waterfall in the foreground and then it's just as simple as it gets it just leads you off to this massive Misty Mountain in the background it's about as simple as it gets um I've got to focus that this because I'm really close to the foreground but that is it I don't even need to bracket because look how dingy the light is is not a huge amount of dynamic range anyway absolutely gorgeous I think if this shot turns out to be any good here's a shot Glen Co is an absolute landscape photography treasure trope all you got to do is get a little bit lost right so I've decided to hike back down the hill to where I started because I'm obviously going in the wrong direction going up there but this Trail just keeps going in that direction and that is where I want to be so I think I made a mistake but I'm kind of happy that I did because that was that was a magic little spot that and I'd love to come back to it in all seasons but especially you know me my favorite is winter Imagine That Mountain half covered in snow and that waterfall semi Frozen oh now you are talking well honestly I'm lost I've come down to the bottom of the hill I've tried to uh hike along the highway and find a trail up to that and I can't find it so I guess I should have done me research shouldn't I but where's the fun in that you know takes all the joy and misery out of doing your own Discovery I I just rather fly by the seat of my soil pants and just give it a go you know anyway I failed today so now I'm going to have to go and do that internet research anyway oh it's just Great Is It Anyway I don't I don't think anything is going to happen with the light it is just miserable so I think I'm going to quit for the day I'm going get a curry but as soon as I saw this the curry would have to wait the Misty Mountains were just begging to be photographed I mean just look at the moodiness and you know me I'm all about Moody landscape photography especially of the Highlands in Scotland so I pulled over grabbed the Hasselblad and captured this [Music] shot we did eventually get that Curry and after a c night in the B&B we got up early to visit yet another iconic Scottish Landmark Castle stalker but as always you know me I had something to winge about it this this whipped up water is is just not doing it for me at all and it's it's a shame because the light on those mountains in the distance is it's perfect really it's absolutely fantastic and I'm not one of those let's put a t stop on and do a fake calm water refle I don't I don't like that kind of stuff I'd rather just come back just just it's an excuse to come back another eight flights another 3 days of driving all that business yeah come back and just just redo it and get the perfect conditions and that is maybe that's the moral of this story is rather than polishing a turd using tons of filters and just really trying to force a square into a round hole and get the shot that just doesn't exist just keep coming back over and over and over again I've never got a good shot of Castle stalker I've got a few okay ones few filler shots but I've never got the perfect conditions and I know that they exist those conditions cuz I've seen some pretty special shots I just got to keep coming back and back oh look at that light over there that is beautiful so that light might creep in and hit the castle now I'm told that you can actually spend the night in Castle stalker I think it's a it's a rental and uh when the Tide's out I believe you can walk across but if the if the Tide's in I think they do provide a boat I'm just hearing this second hand I hear that you can get a boat they'll take you there you can spend the night probably more than a night probably a week if you wanted to I guess that'd be kind of cool but once you're in there I don't know what you do and the thing is once you're on the castle you can't see the castle right so to me it's like the view is of the castle so I I'd want to be staying around here looking at that not the other way around but it's still will be a pretty cool experience what do you think love would you you can actually stay in there yeah it's a holiday rental I think really according to all sources I think it was Roy that told me so it it could have been bullshitting I don't know what would you do in there though well what do you do anywhere good question what's it matter where you stay it's all the same oh yesterday I was hiking in Glen Co and I felt this little tickle here and I went went like that and it was a bloody great big tick I'm glad I got it before it latched on start sucking me blood bastard now another thing I'll tell you about Scotland is because a lot of these historic places well it's history they're very very old obviously and so they were built in a time when uh people didn't have cars and didn't need car Parks so if you come to Castle stalker that there really is nowhere to park a car there's not really that much infrastructure for tourism in certain places so if you're on the aisle of Sky if you're up somewhere near like the Quang as far as I'm aware there are no toilets the parking is a bit halfhazard so that's something that you have to just be aware of oh there's a bit of light hit it now before you come to Scotland before you spend your dollars uh because it's a bit chaotic and if you're from America and you're used to having really well-groomed trails and toilets everywhere this ain't like that this is uh I'm not going to say the wild west but it's it's a bit different let's put it that way I think you nailed it just hold it in and hopefully you can find a nice pull out uh when she says pull out what what she means is a parking space yeah place to pull out your car to pull out yeah what else was that nothing where does your head go so is that your your favorite castle so far I think it's the one of the cutest ones so far yeah yeah what's all that yellow stuff on the bricks on the bricks that is uh Lykan subscribe like And subscribe all right now I don't know if you can see it but this is my favorite kind of light you see how that bright hot light is hitting that Island there but then behind it there's just gray almost black Doom Laden clouds I just I just love that I love that contrast so I would if I can make a request to to the sky Gods could you just do that there where the castle is please that' be brilliant yeah that' be great what are them chances slimon on well it's finally happened the sun has has broken through an illuminated Castle stalker with as I asked for those dark doomy clouds behind it not bad um but like I said W with this wind and and no reflexion it's not really a shot it it's it's okay you know that is such nice light so it's one of those mornings where you get beautiful light but the winds just a little bit too much it's hard to get it all it do you know you've hit the nail on the head there love it really is difficult to get it all but to get an absolute killer shot that's what that's what you need you need everything to line up perfectly and that's why I always say one in 10 it's about one in 10 shots turn out that way the rest they usually just fillers look at that it's gone doesn't last long that perhaps might be our signal to go get breakfast love yeah I'd like some I'd like some breakfast oh oh no it's it's coming back never mind sorry oh look at that look at that before your very eyes the illumination of Castle stalker kicks off absolutely magical now cue the Mist you know I think the only way that I'm going to get this shot you know where everything just lines up absolutely perfectly is basically if I just spent a week here just rented a cottage or stayed in a hotel on this street Street and spent a week sunrise sunset middle of the day imagine what you would Capt you know that 2 minutes of Glorious light where everything just lines up perfectly that is what is often required if you want the absolute best shots that there is either that or you're just one lucky bugger or you just use Photoshop a lot which I do but I'm not going to photoshop this one [Music] do you remember when I said I wouldn't Photoshop this image well I lied I photoshopped the sh out of this image now if you want to learn some of my Photoshop tricks check out my courses Photoshop for morons volume 1 and volume two there's a link in the description I think this is our last opportunity to have a proper Scottish breakfast well I've had a few maybe two since we've been here they they weren't they weren't very good they're hit and miss if you get a good one though it's it's the Breakfast of Champions so should we just I mean we're expanding still from what we ate last week so should we just do that well yeah we only have two days left so yeah c short breads short bread right let's go get breakfast yeah so like a right couple of wilder beast we gobbled down a full Scottish breakfast with tattis scone and marmalade it it was all right right after that absolutely delicious feed um let's get back up to gleno and see what's happening at bive M so I'm back at bive M and I'm I'm a bit angry with myself uh because the light for the last 15 minutes has been absolutely unbelievable and if I just hiked up that Bloody Hill right behind me there I would have had the shot of a lifetime we're talking epic light rays just off in the distance there which I tried to shoot with the Drone but I'm not sure if I got it because the drone's got a propeller problem and the uh it's hang on hang [Music] on if you've never been to the Scottish Highlands you'll be delighted to learn that this kind of light is actually more common than you'd think you just got to be prepared to go out in the rain and get soaked and if the forecast looks terrible well that might just be your cue to go shooting the drone's got a propeller problem and uh it's making the uh gimbal go a bit wobbly and I didn't bring any spare blades anyway so enough of my excuses I should have just hiked up that hill and I think there isn't actually a trail I think what youve got to do I notice that there's a hole in the fence I think you just got to go through the hole in the fence and just hoof it straight up no no actual Trail in order to get this shot so that's that's what I should have figured out yesterday I didn't figure it out and uh I've paid the price by not being up there I I could be stood up there now getting just photo orgasmic shots anyway I'm not I'm down here and I'm just shooting handheld with the hassle blood just single frames not even bracketing uh because just over there you can see it now you get these these light rays periodically coming in and just tickling the base off bucketed more there so uh that's what I'm going to do for the next 5 [Music] minutes so this is obviously my drone shot because as you know I didn't hike up there if only I'd known that these light rays would paint the scene in Heavenly light so if you find yourself in the highlands in Scotland and the weather's a bit rainy and a bit Sunny get yourself up this hill around midday right now that I've got that shot um I actually want to go back down Glen Cod to the bottom end towards balish because on the way up spoted this quite tasty composition with some Misty Mountains in the top of the frame and a Trio of waterfalls cascading oh look at that light cascading down the hill so I think we're going to try that one next so it's bloody typical isn't it we're just about to leave Glenco it's day three we're heading back down south and the light is absolutely amazing today it's just oh man look at that business there in the background outrageous you can just see these three water well it's probably just one Creek split into three with this Misty nub right in the background there so I'm going to try and get a shot of that while I can all right let me see if I can explain this shot to you it's not necessarily a panorama but it's a stitch because the frame just requires two shots oh God it's raining now I'll just continue so this is basically the bottom of my frame I'll just darken this down a little bit you can see this waterfall drops in from the left and then continues all the way into the right of the front frame so this is great but that's not really what the entire shot's about this is just the bottom half of my frame so what I'll do now is angle this up so now you can see this Misty Mountain in the distance and that is the top of my frame and then I'm going to stitch the two together to create one larger composition which will probably be a 4x5 or 5x4 vertical oh and it's just getting so Misty up there now look just look at that so basically it's this section where you got this Misty Mountain and then this waterfall well this series of waterfalls that Cascade down the mountain and this is what I'm basically looking at what's in front what you can hear now is that Creek all that distance away oh it's it's it's just sideways rain now but look how Misty it is this is a problem it's terrible shooting conditions but that looks perfect anyway if this shot turns out to be any good here's the shot [Music] [Music] now if you want to see my latest and newest photography work you can find me on X and you can also find me on Instagram so after after two days of extremely soggy but productive landscape photography in the Scotland Highlands there was one last place that I needed to cross off my bucket list but for that my friends you'll need to tune in to next week's episode where I get into a tussle with Thomas haon nah

Channel: fototripper

Views: 54,919

Keywords: landscape, photography, sony a1, fototripper, tripod, camera, tutorial, howto, sony, comedy, funny, wide angle, sony a7rIV, hasselblad, x2d, flm tripods, what's in my bag, camera bag, shimoda, telephoto, thomas heaton, hasselblad x2d, glencoe, scotland highlands, scottish highland, highlands in scotland, Buachaille Etive Mòr, the three sisters, ballachulish, rain, storm

Id: O8JPwa8epS0

Length: 20min 39sec (1239 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2023