A few from my recent hols...

All on Harris and Lewis. Not yet had time to do any post processing. These are JPGs quickly ripped straight from RAW using Irfanview with a just a little contrast and saturation added so they will be improved upon... (exposure on some will be out as a result)

EOS 450D with standard crappy kit glass

Hope you like.
South of Arisaig (half 6 in the morning):



All near Horgavost:




Name eascapes me at present:


Uig Sands:


Callanish Stones:


Butt of Lewis:



These are thankfully pin sharp on the eyes:




The missus:
Love this but wish she hadn't blinked:



Dalmor Beach:






Blackhouse Village:


Stornoway to Ullapool ferry:
The ferry was 2hrs late and I'm very thankfull!

 

your misses has nice jugs.... some nice photies there, where abouts did you go?

 

Pay attention!

Super photographs - there'll be some real crackers there once you've PP'd them.

Glad I didn't chose landscapes for this month's competition subject!

Would like to see the 'afters' as well as the 'befores'. What lens(es) did you use?

 

ws gona say the same

 

pay attention... (yawns)

 

Nice banter... I'm sure my partner would be flattered.

I was very lucky as the weather, in general, was pretty poor; warm and windy with very little sun but thankfully as can be seen some very nice lighting which was a real bonus. I got more decent shots in one week than I have in the last few months.

I also took my telescope and equitorial mount in the hope of getting some nice moon and widefield shots but the moon was full which really peed me off- Note to oneself is to make sure it's a new moon the next time I go camping!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

My Dad used to do a lot of photography in his younger days (thinks back to spending time in the darkroom helping him & bored out my skull) and took it upon himself with some retiral money to sort me out with a decent starter camera. I've had it about 10 months & never really used it in earnest and as it a gift I was starting to feel rather guilty. All I had before was a Sony P120 which wasn't bad at all for a compact but I'd reached the limits of it ages ago but I've still LOTS to learn with the DSLR. Really fancy some nice primes and a decent wide angle but those will have to wait but I'm sure I'll have fun in the meantime.

I have about 800 photos to trawl thru and pick out the ones to PS. I'll perhaps have a play with HDR as I havent really got into this in earnest as with high contrast shots I usually just expose the RAW for sky and landscape and then blend them together in CS3.

A ton of work... Not promising anything will be done overnight.

 

blending two raws is as good as HDR i reckon if your not going to go overboard with HDR and make it look fake (which i do like btw) def with landscapes anyway.

 

Stunning pictures and lovely location. Really need to use my new DSLR properly rather than just taking casual pictures with it.

 

Touch !

 

Yep RIP - I kinda like the 'fake' look for some shots too.

Thanks Trev - If its any consolation I had been feeling like that for ages too.

Forgot to mention the highlight at the Butt of Lewis - Was photogrpahing some seals basking in the sun and moved on to scanning offshore with bins in the hope of seeing some Dolphins. No pics but seen a huge pod of Orcas a few hundred metres offshore. The highlight being three simultaenously breach vertically... Even though it was at distance and over in an instant its got to be one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen and I feel priveliged & humbled to have seen such magnificent mammals. Well worth the visit!

 

i would love to go there. I take it you have to get two flights? was it a cheap holiday?

 

Me too

Lovely photos too, I particularly liked the waves breaking & the sunset shots

 

No flights required; just a bit of driving and then ferries; The Islandhopper 13 ticket (http://www.calmac.co.uk/islandhoppingtickets) is best as getting the ferry from Malliag to Armadale (On Skye) cuts out a load of driving up to the Skye bridge. Then drive from Armadale to Uig and get the Ferry from Uig to Tarbert. Finally get back to the mainland via Stornoway to Ullapool. Trust me its well worth it.

Ticket was only 90 odd quid which inlcuded a Landrover and a passenger too.

 

yeah but from london i need to fly - f*** driving to scotland will be cheaper to fly. So maybe fly then hire a car and get the ferry etc. Definately going to look into it as the scenery is amazing. Some of the first lot are screaming out for HDR treatment!!!

 

I see where you're coming from.

Check out Colin Prior Photography & Colin Baxter Photography

 

Looks like your doin OK with the "crappy kit glass" !!

 

Ahh, bonny Scotland!
Awesome photos, really. You are so lucky up there to have such stunning locations round the corner.

What? What is the GTI for? I would have thought that would get you there.

 

Nice pics mate

 

trust me, i have little or no suspension travel, no dash, no stereo, poly race bushes all over the car and no interior.... I would get to birmingham and turn back round i think!!!

 

It was relatively inexpensive given we camped - The biggest cost was diesel at about 150 and then the ferry tickets at 98 and just forget taking a GTi unless you're sticking to the main roads (which defets the point of going IMO)! I took the MK3 to Skye last year and on the main roads its ace but its the smaller 'not even B-Roads' where you really want to be exploring that become real 10mph teeth rattlers. Although I do seem to recall that the smaller roads on Harris/Lewis are in far better condition than those on Skye but then we were in a Discovery.

To richwig83:
Yeah I've been kinda harsh on the kit lenses- I can't complain TBH.

My missus says thanks for the compliments. 34F BTW.