Category Archives: Scotland

Scotland Revisited

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The Verandah Restaurant - D700, 24-70mm

The Verandah Restaurant - D700, 24-70mm

We stayed at the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry. The view from the restaurant (The Verandah) was quite spectacular. Shot this one morning after breakfast, the light was calling to me. Processed this using Topaz Simplify to get a painterly feel to the image.

Harry Potter Bridge - D700, 24-70mm

Harry Potter Bridge - D700, 24-70mm

This was shot on the Road to the Isles. It’s the bridge you see in the Harry Potter films. Also processed this using Topaz Simplify, seemed to work for this image too… See below for a slightly larger blow up of part of this image. Really need to see this large for the full effect.

Harry Potter Bridge - Detail

Harry Potter Bridge - Detail

Photographer’s Dungeon

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Photographer's Dungeon - D700, 24-70mm

As we wondered around Edinburgh Castle I was shooting whatever looked interesting. This cell door looked interesting as we left the dungeon. Then some Japanese tourists entered the scene and it got a whole lot more interesting. This is my interpretation of the event. Not the usual tourist photo of Edinburgh Castle…but then again I wasn’t looking for the usual. I wonder what his photo looked like?

Autumn Swing

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Autumn Swing - D700, 24-70mm

Autumn Swing - D700, 24-70mm

This scene was right beside Inverlochy Castle in Fort William. Might have even been on the castle grounds. The castle was pretty much old ruins and the light wasn’t flattering the ruins much. I saw this as I was walking around the grounds. That’s a wee bit of Ben Nevis in the background. Now if we just had a child playing on the swing it would be perfect. Just imagine there’s one there…OK.

Crail Cottage

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Crail Cottage - D700, 24-70mm

Crail Cottage - D700, 24-70mm

On our way down to Edinburgh we stopped in Crail to visit some friends from 30+ years ago. We stayed with them for two days. One morning I took the camera for a walk down by the harbor and shot this cottage. Just loved all the texture layers…single image processed in Photomatix Pro  and some Topaz Detail added.

Gypsy Wagon – Cawdor Castle

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Gypsy Wagon, Cawdor Castle - D700, 24-70mm

Gypsy Wagon, Cawdor Castle - D700, 24-70mm

As we were leaving Cawdor Castle I saw this yummy scene. The light was good, benches, tables and a RED gypsy wagon in the background, how could I resist? I could hear that mantra in my head “always shoot RED when you see it”. Not a bad idea…

Glen Coe

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Glen Coe - D700, 24-70mm

Glen Coe - D700, 24-70mm

The drive from Stirling to Fort William was one NOT to be forgotten. Apart from the spectacular scenery it was raining sideways with 70mph gusts. You could feel the car move in the wind. It all added to the ambiance to say the least….this was taken (quickly between the rain storms) at the visitor’s center in Glen Coe.  Sure wish we had a little better weather through here so I could have taken more photos.

Scotland – Assorted Impressions

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Moran Beach - D700, 24-70mm

Moran Beach - D700, 24-70mm

This batch of Scotland images are some assorted impressions that I shot. Sometimes I was just shooting what attracted me with the idea of interpreting the basic image later. The first one was shot off a bridge on the “Road to the Isles”, middle of the day with the traffic blowing by me. The more I worked with this image the more towards a moonlit beach scene I went.

Ruins at Holyroodhouse - D700, 24-70mm

Ruins at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh - D700, 24-70mm

I shot a fair number of shots similar to this, just love the texture and sense of age.

Edinburgh Hotel Lobby - D700, 24-70mm

Edinburgh Hotel Lobby - D700, 24-70mm

These two are less ancient but reflect the mixture of old and new found throughout the country. The Scottish Parliament building is a very modern structure, not quite what you might expect.

Scottish Parliament Building - D700, 24-70mm

Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh - D700, 24-70mm

Road to the Isles

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Road to the Isles - D700, 24-70mm

Road to the Isles - D700, 24-70mm

Here’s another shot taken on our drive on the “Road to the Isles”. There were plenty of scenery like this all along the road but nowhere to a park and get out to take the photo. This spot had a parking area where I could safely get out and take some images.

This is a 5 shot HDR processed with Photomatix Pro and further work in Photoshop with Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail and some Nik Color Efex Pro. The sky was blended back in, for a more natural look, from one of the 5 bracketed shots for the HDR.

St Mary & St Finnan Church

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St Mary & St Finnan Church - D700, 24-70mm

St Mary & St Finnan Church - D700, 24-70mm

We came around the corner as we traveled the road to the isles and made a screeching stop to pull into the parking lot in front of this church. Here is a bit of history from the visitscotland web site:

The church was consecrated in 1873. Designed by E Welby Pugin in the Gothic style, the church enjoys an elevated and commanding position overlooking Loch Shiel with a spectacular view of the loch and surrounding hills. The church is a memorial chapel to the MacDonalds of Glenaladale, the family with whom Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed prior to the raising of the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in August 1745. The church contains memorial stones to the Prince and to members of the MacDonald family.