October: month in review
Each month I aim to pick an image that, in my mind at least, captures the flavour of that month. It might not be the best image from the month, or the most spectacular of subjects; it just needs to illustrate something about the month.
Morning Light, Glen Strathfarrar
Fujifilm X-T3 | 84mm f/8.0 1/800s ISO320
What’s this month’s image? This is an image taken at Glen Strathfarrar, not too far from Beauly and Inverness, in the morning light. The sunlight hitting the mist and front of the trees makes the image for me.
Did you do anything to it? The scene had a large dynamic range, from the foreground shadows to the brightness in the sky. For this reason I deliberately under-exposed so as not to lose any of the highlight detail. Rather than lift the shadows I’ve left them as they are, leaving just the front edge of the pines in the foreground lit. The effect is very low key and helps accentuate the structure in the trees. The image did have the contrast boosted and some saturation added.
What’s it doing here? October has been a very busy month. We started the month with a trip to Skye (and you can read more about that here) and I ended the month with a trip up north, on a Caledonian Colour workshop which was excellently organised by Harry Martin of Mc2 Photography. This isn’t a review of the trip, but if it were it would be a five star review with a special mention for Becky and Warwick for their superb hospitality and support. The intent, instead, is to reflect on the photographs taken on the trip.
Woodland Photography
The trip was very much undersold and over-delivered in spades. The Caledonian Colour trip was sold as an opportunity to explore autumn colours and woodland photography; in the event the variety and quality of content far exceeded expectations. That said, the woodland aspect was well covered. This is a genre of photography that I’ve long admired, but never really been able to produce images with which I’m happy. I’m still not sure that I have produced anything of merit, but I do feel as though I have a better idea of where to start!
One of the challenges of this type of photography is that the scenes so chaotic. I’m sure many of us have stopped to take in the beauty of a woodland scene, particularly in autumn where there is a riot of colour and texture. What’s much harder is capturing an image that conveys that vibrance while still retaining some semblance of structure and order. I feel that I’ve made a start, but there’s still much to be learnt.
Birch Tree and Bracken, Glen Affric
Fujifilm X-T3 | 110mm f/2.8 1/60s ISO160
Happily, Harry and Warwick were both on hand to offer some excellent advice and instruction. Given the inherent chaos in the scene the best approach is to go for longer focal lengths and look for subjects that can be isolated from the background, either through framing and composition or use of a wider aperture: the shot above uses both. The other technique is to look for details in the scene or natural patterns that can be used to impose some order on the composition. I hope the examples help illustrate the point.
Fly Agaric - avoid unless it’s been pre-filtered by deer…
Fujifilm X-T3 | 80mm f/5.6 1/30s ISO160 - focus stack of 10 images
The other aspect of the woodland images is that the approach to processing is quite different from some of the other genres I’ve shot. The temptation is to approach these scenes as though they’re landscapes - use the full dynamic range and contrast available. These scenes are inherently more delicate and I’ve found myself dialling in some negative contrast, negative haze and lifting the blacks rather than crushing them. I’m definitely still learning, but hopefully these are travelling in the right direction.
Wildlife
If we’d have spent a couple of days in the same patch of forest I’d probably have been happy, but in the event there is much more available. The Thursday spent in Glen Strathfarrar was a highlight - it has everything from intimate landscapes to wide vistas to wildlife. In terms of the latter, the photographic highlights we the deer and goats that we were lucky enough to find literally by the side of the road. The stags provide fantastic eye-candy while the feral goats are all business…
Look at me, all majestic and proud and perfectly posed…
Fujifilm X-10 | 360mm f/8.0 1/180s ISO1000
They call me feral for a reason…
Fujifilm X-S10 | 420mm f/8.0 1/180s ISO1250
Landscapes
The trip focused on three areas; Glen Cannich, Glen Strathfarrar and Glen Affric itself. Each of the glens has its own character and views, which gave plenty of variety in the landscape images. Of the three, I found Glen Strathfarrar to be the most productive (but also recognising that we had the best light on the day we visited and spent the greatest amount of time in the glen). This included the images from Loch Monar, where the water level had fallen to the extent where we were able to walk on the bed on the loch. The petrified trees were both eerie and striking…
River Farrar
Fujifilm X-T3 | 66mm f/8.0 20s ISO160
Morning Mist, East Craigdhu
Fujifilm X-T3 | 125mm f/2.8 1/125s ISO200
Conclusions
The few days I spent in and around the area were a fantastic experience, and one I intend to repeat next year. The scenery was wonderful, the company convivial and hospitality first class. The final image above is a grab shot from my bedroom window - if you can wake up to that view then life isn’t all all bad!
Next month’s expected to be a little quieter, but we’ll see…
