Attempting Landscape Photography …
I have been banging on about it all year, so it is about time that I actually got out there and did some landscape photography…wish me luck! That may be a bit over dramatic, but I do feel quite out of my comfort zone when attempting landscape photography, as this is an area that I don’t have much experience in, but unless I try, then I won’t learn or get better, so with that in mind, on our stopover in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, on our recent sailing trip, I head out on my favourite walk to the Rubha nan Gall lighthouse.
The walk starts at the far end of town by the RNLI lifeboat station and the ferry terminal, from there it is 2km to the lighthouse – so 4km there and back, plus wherever you started from. It is all trail the whole way there, so no bush whacking required, but it does get a bit muddy in the rain, which is something to be aware of.
On reaching the viewpoint (go just past the viewpoint sign to get to the steps), our landscape photography begins. I have my Sony A7v with the 24-70 f2.8 GM ii lens and the A7iv with the 70-200 f2.8 GM ii just in case I want something a bit more compressed, as well as my Kase Circular Polariser and 10 Stop ND filter.
From the view point, there wasn’t much foreground to play with, so I followed the trail down a bit to get a bit closer to the rocks, in the hopes that I could use them to make my images a bit more interesting. I found it quite hard to find my first real composition, if I was standing, then there was no real foreground to speak of, with the tide being out, and the challenge with being low down was finding a foreground that was balanced and didn’t intersect anything. It took some doing, but eventually I got there. I also tried a couple of shots with the 70-200, to see what that looked like, and I really like those images.
Now I was getting into it a bit, I cracked out the tripod and filters and tried some long exposures, which I am really pleased with. I also attempted to use the focus bracketing on the A7v, a new feature that I hadn’t used before. I had it set to take 4 exposures, but the focus didn’t move at all, so rather than faff around and waste time learning how that feature actually works (some homework for me at some point…), I just manually moved the focus point around. While the exposures themselves were fine, I think this scene, and my lack of knowledge on this front came though quite clearly. I didn’t take enough images at different distances for the stack to work. There was a big gap between the foreground and the sea behind, so when it came to stacking, things just didn’t look right. The foreground in sharp focus, then the sea behind a bit softer, before back to pin sharp on the lighthouse. I am happy I tried it though, and it will be a method that I will try learning more of.
With my first images in the bag, I moved closer to the lighthouse. I went onto the far side, in the hopes of finding my second composition over there. On previous visits, I had been higher up on the tide, which I think made things easier for me, as at low tide, it was a bit of a struggle to find some more of that foreground interest I was after. I settled on a large(ish) puddle, that I could use to attempt some reflection shots.
It was a bit tricky finding the best angle, as the water in the pool was quite low, so rocks were poking out a bit, but I did eventually find a gap that I could use to reflect at least part of the lighthouse. Now all I had to do was wait for the mizzle to move and the mist to clear and give me some background behind the lighthouse, and for the couple who were standing next to the lighthouse for what seemed to be an absolute age, to move on, so I could get a clear shot.
It took a while for the misty rain to clear, and it coincided with a ferry passing! An excellent edition and supporting actor to my image. The couple were still there, but in a handy spot that they could easily be removed when editing. Overall, I am really pleased with these shots – CalMac, you can contact me if you want to use them …. Haha, they have the lighthouse, dramatic skies, a bit of reflection and a ferry in, what’s not to be chuffed about?
Eventually the couple did move on, and I tried to experiment a bit with the 10 stop ND, to slow the shutter down. It was quite windy out here and I wanted to see how the reflection would look – or if it would be there at all, if I slowed it all down. Again, I am really happy with this one, and best of all no people had to be removed from this image!
I took the filter off, to see if it was possible to get a proper reflection of the lighthouse. I had to wait and fire the shutter in between gusts of wind, but I managed to sort of get one good reflection. I also got lucky with another ferry passing through my scene, which again, brings an extra element of interest into the image. I am really happy with this set of images, and I feel I know what I would do differently next time (mostly cross my fingers for a deeper pool and less wind).
With these keeper shots taken, I wanted to try and find another composition if I could. I know that there is one that I will have to go back to when the tied is higher, but at low tied it was quite the struggle. I walked around a lot but ended up back where I started with my reflection pool only this time a little further back.
Before I left to go home, I wanted to see if I could create some images on the other side of the lighthouse. This was a hard task, as I said it was low tied and while there was a large and pretty sheltered pool here, it was covered in bright green algae. I did my best to move around and find a spot where I could potentially hide the green pool, but alas, I couldn’t make it come together this time.
I had a lovely time out at the lighthouse and am really happy with the images I created here. I learnt a lot and enjoyed doing so, you can be sure I will be back here when next up that way to try and see what other images I can create in different weather conditions and sea state. If you are ever in Tobermory or on Mull and find yourself with some spare time, it is well worth the walk out to the light house.