Loudon Hill (9 of 10)
Mar, 2015Views
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J.C.Celmer
March 03, 2015
Wonderful capture, Alexander !
Welcome among us in ViewBug !
A Brazilian hug !
Welcome among us in ViewBug !
A Brazilian hug !
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Loudon Hill in Ayrshire, Central Scotland. The hill is a volcanic plug and was the location of a famous victory by Robert the Bruce over the English Army during the Scottish War of Independence in the 13th CenturyTime
Late afternoon in January. The weather conditions were perfect for the photograph I had in mind.Lighting
I checked the Photographer's Ephemeris to make sure the sun was setting behind the hill in relation to the viewpoint I had in mind. I used a two-stop soft gard filter but, even then, the high contrast meant I had to blend two images to get the detail I wanted in the highlights and shadows. This was done by hand with the help of luminosity masks - I don't like HDR due to the softening of contrast in the details.Equipment
I used a Canon 5D MkIII, a 17-40 F4L lens and a manfrotto tripod and ball-head. Live view and the 2-second self timer.Inspiration
Loudon Hill is a favourite location and it offers completely different aspects in the winter and summer. However, there are a few better known viewpoints and I wanted to find somewhere a little different that would allow me to provide a lead-in in the foreground. My local knowledge gave me the confidence to know that the sunset would be approximately in the right location for the image I had in mind to make the best of the snowy conditions and the late afternoon light. The Photographer's Ephemeris confirmed this and a quick check of Streetview and on-line aerial photographs, together with my local knowledge, provided me with what I thought would be the ideal spot.Editing
I try to get away with using lightroom only but, although I'm no expert, I'm happy to use Photoshop when the need arises, particularly for blending high-contrast images. As I said above, I prefer manual blending with the use of luminosity masks. For me, this process creates a much-more pleasing final image than HDR.In my camera bag
I'm one of those people that can't go out without being able to cover just about all bases. I carry my EOS 5 MkIII body with 100 mm macro lens, 17-40, 24-105 and 100-400 L lenses, and a 1.4x converter. The backpack also includes ND grad filters, a 10-stop ND, a 6-stop ND and a B&W circular polariser. I also carry cleaning equipment, a powerful head-torch, cable and radio triggers, a 12 inch collapsible reflector and a pair of reading glasses (I'm afraid age is catching up with me). I also always have my manfrotto carbon fibre tripod in hand.Feedback
When you have a specific image in mind planning is essential and, even then, you may have to go back a few times until the conditions are just right. I had this image in mind in the few days leading up to the day that the opportunity arrived and, in this case, I was lucky that a single visit was sufficient. However, I had planned the image through the use of local knowledge and on-line resources as mentioned. It was then a case of arriving at the site, searching out a viewpoint with a suitable foreground, getting the camera set up with the right lens and using the hyperfocal distance, all bearing in mind that the sun was setting and the light changing rapidly. I seldom shoot at an aperture smaller than f16 to avoid softening of the image due to diffraction. Neural density graduated filters are pretty much essential for images like this. I generally prefer soft grads as, in this case, the variable horizon is less affected by the graduation. In conditions like this I always take at least three images, with two bracketed either side of "optimum". "Optimum" for me is usually an adjustment to the camera's suggestion based on experience. However you do it, it is essential to have at least one image with details in the shadows and details in the highlights. Do not be afraid of manual blending in photoshop; there are plenty of on-line tutorials and, unless you use luminosity masks, it is quite straightforward - a steady hand and a bit of patience is all you need.
