Kylesku Rainbow
Opportunistic pano, taken just up from the Kylesku hotel where we were staying in Sutherland, Scotland. This was hand held and stitched and processed in LR and ...
Read more
Opportunistic pano, taken just up from the Kylesku hotel where we were staying in Sutherland, Scotland. This was hand held and stitched and processed in LR and PS CC and turned out far better than I expected.
Read less
Read less
Nov, 2015Views
10310
Likes
Awards
Action Award
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Rainbows Overhead Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Wicked Weather Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Seeking Light In Nature Photo Contest
Featured
Contest Finalist in Impactful Images Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photography Day Photo Contest 2016
Contest Finalist in The Ocean And The Clouds Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 4
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 17 Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Outdoors Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
All Star
Love it
Genius
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Categories
carmenvelcic
November 05, 2015
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
PRO
snowdon
November 27, 2015
I am pleased for your Finalist Win in The Outdoors contest ... Congratulations
Platinum
Platinum
Platinum
Platinum
jeffjacobson
January 09, 2016
Just about covers everything, winner on all fronts. Congratulations on being there! Great intuition, on the shot. Stunning capture!
PRO+
PRO+
PRO+
PRO
PRO+
PRO
snowdon
January 09, 2017
Congratulations on your Finalist Win in Seeking Light in Nature competition.. Great photo
PRO
Platinum
KayBrewer
March 25, 2017
Fabulous and scary! Congratulations - Contest Finalist in Wicked Weather Photo Contest!
Platinum
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
The panoramic images were taken just outside of our hotel looking up Loch Glendhu at Kylesku, Sutherland, Scotland.Time
We had been to Lochinver for the day to do some walking and of course I take my camera ( I have a mostly tolerant partner) and when we got back to our hotel at about 18.25 hrs the sky's changed dramatically in a matter of moments and the rainbow appeared. So I quickly took my camera out of the bag quickly dialled in the settings I wanted and fired off a set of images hand held for stitching as a panorama later, god willing.Lighting
As the sky turned broody and dark in the background at about 18.25 hrs the sun was reflected of the dark clouds from a slightly lower elevation at that time of day (but still no where near the horizon) to enhance the light in the foreground, giving a degree of tonal gradation complimented by the changing mix of weather conditions. Basically I struck lucky, right place, right time.Equipment
I was using my Pentax K3 and Pentax DA* 16-50mm f2.8 lens. Hand held only, no flash.Inspiration
Just being in Scotland is inspiration enough to take photo's, but in this case as discussed above all the elements conspired to offer a great opportunity to take these shots. I say theses shots because this is a cropped panorama. The breadth of the vista was not enough to take with a single shot with sufficient detail, therefore I elected to go for a panoramic series. In Scotland and particularly in the highlands the weather can change in minutes/seconds and you have to be ready to get your shot.Editing
I tweaked the exposure, clarity and set white and black points in LR then synced the other shots taken for this panorama. I then stitched them together in LR 6 CC as a panorama. Exported to PS CC and then tweaked a little more before applying some selective sharpening using mask layers and exported back to LR where I think I used the clone & heal tool to tidy up the some of the white water on the loch that was drawing the eye. Then used the grad filter top and bottom to squeeze the perspective and help lead and focus the viewer into the frame.In my camera bag
I have now a Pentax K3 and Pentax DA* 16-50 and 50-135 mm f2.8 lenses + my sigma 70mm macro lens. These are great to stick in the bag while out walking and cover a lot of potential opportunities with the exception of shooting the larger wildlife, though you could get lucky with this focal range in this respect. I also have some very nice old manual tamron adaptall lenses that I use and try out occasionally. In use a Gitzo GM2561T monopod with a Gitzo G1177M head mostly for my macro and when we are out walking. I also have a Giottos carbon fibre MTL 8660B tripod with an Induro BHL2 head, but to be honest I do not make enough use of it.Feedback
My kit is described above, however, I would dearly love to get hold of some quality prime lenses, but alas finances currently dictate otherwise. However this raises the issue of choice i.e. I would use primes for a specific project and this would almost certainly be within and range to an hour or so of the golden hours. On the other hand the zoom choices above allow me to respond far more quickly to changing conditions and unforeseen potential shots while out walking, again here the light is still better when the sun is lower in the sky. But in place like Scotland and anywhere in the UK really in winter when there are changeable and angry skies, then anytime of day can get you a great shot and for this the modern quality zoom lens allows you to react and capture a wide vista of scenarios. Light low and over the shoulder to one side is probably the best lighting conditions for landscape an of course the golden hours. Side lighting helps to reveal detail and form, whereas backlighting is a deliberate choice e.g. silhouette and subject to artistic interpretation. I tend to prefer overcast skies for macro and this is also best for choices such as photographing gulls or many other scenarios e.g. waterfalls, where there is a potential to blow out your subject or contributing factors.
