Skye – Page 4 – My Photo Blog

The ups and downs of walking in Skye – 25 May 2015

Posted on May 26, 2015May 26, 2015 by Zogman

A dull day. Not unknown on Skye, but as we’ve found in the past, even dull days can be turned around. Wandered round Portree taking to occasional shot. I wanted to visit the bakery tea room as one of my Flickr acquaintances has done a sketch/painting from there. It was P5252377- blog-146.jpg mobbed, but I got the view he’d painted. I’d like to have the guts to sketch in such a public place. Maybe some day … Anyway, I got myself a new shirt in Skye Batiks. Rather a grungy red and black one with a white batik pattern on the back. Such comfortable shirts. Expensive, but comfortable. Then is was on the road back to DSC_2434-2- blog-146.jpg Staffin. We stopped at the waterfall because I wanted to try a ‘new’ method of shooting multiple images and then blending them in Photoshop to simulate a long exposure. I’d initially intended using a variable density ND filter to do the job in one shot, but forgot to pack the ND. It’s just a cheapo, so it’s not great, leaving light blotches on the finished image, but it’s good for experimenting. The results, while not perfect, show that I am on the right road and with a little more tweaking, ok, a lot more tweaking, I can dispense with the bog awful variable ND filter entirely. Well, after all, that’s what Photoshop is for isn’t it?!

Just in case anyone is wondering why I’m belting out so much text, it’s to pad out the blog to see how Ecto – my latest contender for Offline Blog Editor is going to handle the text and images. So far it’s very favourable, almost as good as MarsEdit.

After I managed to work out the practicality of making the multiple shots – camera manuals as PDFs and tablets that can read them are a godsend – we headed back up to Staffin.

A day at Trumpan – 24 May 2015

Posted on May 24, 2015May 25, 2015 by Zogman

Looking out from Trumpan over Ardmore Bay.

Today, I’d decided we were off to Trumpan on the west coast of Skye. Tried to go up over Quairaing, but some eejits had not read the memo about passing places and were having an argie-bargie about right of way. Three point turn and head back to Trumpan via Portree. Trumpan is a beautiful isolated area where silence is king. Usually! When we passed Waternish and were almost at Trumpan, I could see that we wouldn’t be alone today. The carpark looked jam packed with cars and camper vans. What is it about camper vans these days? Everyone seems to want to travel in them. Granted, they are better than caravans, but not by much. They seem to be getting ever longer and wider, yes, definitely wider. They are becoming a menace. Also, unlike the ubiquitous caravan, camper vans are easier to park and therefore can be dumped anywhere overnight. As my brother-in-law says, “one wheel off the road and it’s parked”. However, we did get parked and thankfully Scamp had filled a flask and Murd had insisted we take some chocolate biscuits. Not the healthiest lunch, but it filled a wee space.

Took some photos around the church, but not of it.

DSC_2377- blog-145 copy — Some lovely reflections on the wet sand

Drove back to ‘civilisation’ and after dinner I went for a walk along from the slip on to the rocks. By the time I got to the slip, there were already three camper vans parked up for the night. I can see why the locals don’t like them. They come on to the island, wild park at night, paying no site fees. They bring all their food with them. They even but their fuel off the island. To sum it up, they bring nothing but grief to the island and give nothing back.

The rain was pouring down all the way to the rocks. I didn’t see anything worth shooting, so headed back. Just when I got back the skies opened and a rainbow appeared over Kilt Rock. Superb. After that, I drove to the beach and got a few more photos before heading home. Another brilliant day in Skye.

I saw the rainbow over kilt rock and then I saw the little cloud. I waited until the little white cloud floated over the rainbow, and took my shot. Impressed with the result. 365/144 — I saw the rainbow over kilt rock and then I saw the little cloud. I waited until the little white cloud floated over the rainbow, and took my shot. Impressed with the result.
365/144

Heading for Skye

Posted on May 23, 2015May 23, 2015 by Zogman

Up and out to the gym and then found that I had a chunk out of my tyre, so it was down to the village to get it replaced. £60 lighter, but feeling more secure, I headed home

DSC 2253 blog 142 — They’ve been cutting down loads of trees on Skye and stacked them in tempting piles like this. Such a photo opportunity.

to pack for our trip to Skye. Set off around 12.30pm which was an hour later than we had planned. Trip was fine except the Tamron 70-300mm started acting up again and had to be replaced with the old Tamron 18-200mm which is not a bad lens at all, not as good as the 70-300mm, but at least the focus motor works properly! Stopped at Dornie to take some photos of the ubiquitous Eilean Donan castle (see below) and again at Storr to photograph the timber piled at the side of the road. Finally made it to

Staffin at about 7.00pm to a well earned dinner and a wee dram. Tired, but happy to be in this beautiful place with brilliant people. Onward to Glen Brittle tomorrow I believe.

Biscuit tin castle — The castle that has graced more than its fair share of biscuit tins. It’s Eilean Donan, of course. 365/142