Photographing Loch Reflections
Show Notes
Finally a non wet day! Not a rain cloud in sight and rather no wind, which made for the perfect morning photographing reflections at a small loch.
I had scouted out this location recently, and when I was walking around looking for compositions the one thing that came to mind prominently was to photograph reflections of the forest and boat house. At the time it was a wet and windy day and there wasn’t much to be done accept look around.
So when a few days later I awoke early in the morning to the exact perfect conditions, I knew exactly what to do!
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Onto the Images
By far my favourite from this morning! The colours, tones, reflections and exposure came together in perfect harmony.
When I scouted out this location this was the exact style of image that I had in my mind and I was so pleased when everything came together just as I had wanted it to.
I love it so much it is going to be in my Featured Gallery, which showcases some of my favourite images and will shortly be available to buy as a print in the shop.
This image just exemplifies Scotland in the summer. Wonderful azure sky dotted with clouds and the loch surrounded by vibrant green birch trees catching the early morning orange sun.
This is the ideal, but if you have watched my videos recently then you will know, it is not what we get a lot of the time in Scotland.
The rain of a Scottish summer is what makes this country so wonderfully green!
The boat house proved to be quite a difficult subject to photograph that morning as the sun was directly behind it, so I had to think about how I was going to process the image a lot more and to take several exposures to get enough dynamic range to blend them into an HDR image.
I am of 2 minds about the HDR quality of the boathouse, while I really enjoy the composition and tones of the image, I do feel like it may be a little over-processed. I will definitely shoot it again at a different time of day with the hope to create the image without so much processing.
Another HDR processed image, for the same reasons above I had to blend several exposures together to lift the shadows and darken the sky.
I rather like this style of rural architecture found here in Scotland, the wooden cladding silvering with age and the red tin roof standing out in the sea of green that is the Scottish landscape.
I discovered this location by taking a hike from my home during the pandemic, it was a long hike that way and I finally came to the shores of the loch on the far side.
On this day instead I drove to a parking place closer to the loch and walked around to the side that I found on my hike.
But it was this side of the loch that had enamoured me to photograph it, including this wonderful pine and the next image…
I really liked this tree trunk sticking out of the loch’s banks and covered with various bracket fungi, inluding horseshoe and birch polypore.
As I explain in the video, I knew I wanted to make this a feature of an image but the composition was difficult, but overall I’m happy with the result.
I love the contrast of textures in this image: the solid yet smooth boulder, the rough and living texture of the tree trunk and the smooth, blurred water. It just makes the image come alive even more. The green tones of the forest and its reflection just add to the image.
The wind added a nice impressionist effect to the loch’s water. It most definitely reminds me of a waterlilly painting by Monet.
The impressionist effect is still present in this image and the various trunks of the birches just add a bit more texture to the image.
Overall I had a great morning of photography and I’m getting better at recording the videos with a pseudo plan for each morning taking shape as I work. I do think with each video they get better and I hope you agree!
I hope you are looking forward to the next instalment! Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
About the Film
Just a little information about the film and how I made it, as well as some links to equipment.
I edited the film using the Free Version of DaVinci Resolve. It’s an incredibly powerful piece of software that I am still trying to understand and will possibly write an article about in the future.
The music in this video is a track that I licensed from Premium Beats by ShutterStock called:
The Expedition by Origami Pigeon.
A short Kit List
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Main Vlog Camera is a simple Panasonic G80 with the kit lens, its a great little mirrorless camera that I got for the sole purpose of creating YouTube videos. It’s capable of filming in 4k and seems to do everything that I want it to.
Rode Mic, I got this little microphone to boost the audio quality from the inbuilt microphone.
Action Camera, I use this to film myself when walking. It’s a simple DJI Pocket Osmo camera that has a motorised 3 axis gimbal head, which means that I stay in focus and static while the landscape around me moves. It’s also capable of filming in 4k and the audio quality is quite good.
Voice Recorder, to boost the audio quality when it’s windy or I’m using the action camera I use this handy little voice recorder with a lapellier microphone to record audio.
For a complete Landscape Photography Kit List you can read through what equipment I take with me when I go out here.
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Written by Daniel Long
Daniel Long created DRL Photography as a place to showcase his work as a photographer. Daniel has learnt a lot about photography and wishes to impart this knowledge with you, although the world is an ever changing place and he always says “you can never learn everything.” So as he makes his way, he continues to learn knew techniques, skills and information about photography. He focuses on Landscape and Wildlife photography and Daniel has a special focus on Scotland, his home away from home. As well as writing about photography and taking pictures out in the field, Daniel offers guided photography days so he can share his knowledge and locations in an effort to give his clients the best opportunities possible. Have a browse around this website to see his images, guided experiences and articles about photography. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in contact.
