The fog had hit hard but the sun started to break through – the ideal time for some snaps!

Rocks in the fast flowing Braan

Photo wise i decided to keep the ISO low at 100 and use the tripod, choosing the shutter speed, leaving the aperture to be decided by the camera. The River Braan was full and fast so the shutter was kept about 1sec to capture the movement but without whiting all detail out. Main problem was getting a different shot in such a well photographed place. The main falls are so often shot, as is the viewing hall and hermits cave. So settled for some more detail shots of the smaller falls and some of the low cloud snaking through the trees of Craigvinean Forest.

Low cloud in the Craigvinean forest

Although the ground was muddy and there was a dusting of snow we continued over trees, down paths and ignoring fathers idea of direction until we passed through a clearing, where a selection of bouders overlooked a rather Scottish looking, baran, mist filled clearing. Very atmosphereic in the winter weather. Then it was on to Rumbling Bridge, which we could hear well before could see as the river was so full and fast. However didn’t get many shots as the spray from the falls was pretty intense and couldn’t get down to usual vantage points due to high river and very slippery stones. So after a wee trip along the riverside we headed back to the car, taking the main path, which was also strewn with fallen trees and debris. So although cold and covered in mud by the time we got back, it was a good outing and was very glad to be out and about with the camera again.

Boulders overlooking the Misty Clearing

Star trails were always gonna happen

Sarah and I headed to Little Glenshee (not that far from my house) armed with tripods, cameras and as it turns out, not enough layers of clothing.

I was determined to shoot the stars as they appear in the sky instead of the usual long exposure star trails and there had been much Googling for advice as I could stomach beforehand.

Basic advice was to shoot at iso 1600 or more and for no more than 100 seconds as any longer starts to make trails in your stars.

Even on this exposure, the stars started to make a trail

After being a bit unwell I had cabin fever, so called Ian to request a photo shoot as it was a lovely bright day, but no, as his day went from bad to worse we didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful November Sun, instead we get the rather cold November night. Really should of put on at least 3 more layers and remembered the other one of my gloves. After listening to Ian for a change and taking in the info about star shots, I tried the offical way, thought it didn’t work well as it looked like daylight, so turned my ISO (well the cameras ISO, personally i don’t come with an ISO control!) down to 400 and shortened the shutter speed to about 2 mins. Found this worked a lot better and captured many stars and colours which you really don’t notice with the naked eye. And with the help of an app on Ian’s phone (1st app I’ve actually been impressed by) we managed to identify the constellations we could see, not that I remember any now. To finsih off before we froze over I turned down the ISO to 100, turned off the noise reduction and expanded the shutter speed to about 20 mins to take a star trail shot and got a great circle of stars in the moon bathed countryside.

Stars over the hills of Little Glen Shee

Star Trial over the Bridge

The main screen of Mi Perthshire on iPhone

Mi Perthshire is a website and app for smartphones and according to their site – “Whether you live in Perthshire or you are a visitor, we have great special offers from fantastic Perthshire eating, leisure and entertainment businesses. Be the first to find out about new offers by downloading the FREE Smartphone app (Available on iPhone and Android), and following us on Facebook and Twitter. We let you know about the best Perthshire restaurants, things to do in Perthshire Scotland, accommodation offers, health and beauty, family days, adventure activities, live music, theatre, cinema listings, comedy, sporting events… we have it all!”

The app is very well laid out and navigating it was easy as pie. There are main heading to choose from – eating, leisure, entertainment, events and Mi Monday. Mi Monday is a list of special offers that are available to users on (yes you guessed it) Mondays.

Viewing deals on the map

As well as these categories, there is also the option to list the offers by proximity or on a map of the area. Handy for visitors to the Fair City!

Clicking into an offer leads you to a page describing the deal plus a list of ways to get in touch with the place, share it with your friends on a certain social media website, or even call a taxi.

Turning the phone on its side has no effect on the viewing of the app, something they may want to make use of in future updates.

It all feels a bit empty at the moment but as a recently launched site I wouldn’t expect anything else. I’m sure in these hard times that local businesses will see the benefit of such a service and will be more than happy to get on board to boost their trade.

So go on, give it a download. Check it out!

Ian decided that another night shoot was called for so after rushing around most the day and managing to shove some food down my neck I met up with him and Darryl and we headed out back of yonder to Glen and Loch Lednock at the back of Comrie. When we got there the place was deserted and the stars were out, but as there was no moon the place was pitch black, thankfully we remembered our torches. We set up cameras down by a nice falls just above the Loch with the stars shinning away happily overhead. With tripods left in there places we sat down on the grassy hillside and watched the stars disappear as clouds lazily rolled in over them. EEEK! so much for star trails.

We waited a few mins to see if they would pass and to try and figure out what the odd light moving on the other side of this remote Loch was. The light was strong and bright and bounced back off of the clouds overhead. Very odd. Then giving up on the hiding stars we went back to the car park and decided to play around with the torches and flashes with different gel colours. Using long shutter speeds and flashes or torches behind a solitary figure (Darryl) we got some good ghostly silhouettes. So the boys being boys decided to set up a light fight with Darryl blasting himself.   Using the different colours of flashes and Darryl standing for long period of times in set positions, Ian lit him up and by running back and forth and circling the lights created a light blast. Then on a 2nd shot Darryl did his being hit pose and again Ian lit him up with the various flashes. I put these 2 shots together in photoshop by cloning one into the other and fine tuning the overlaps by erasing the 2nd layer (which the cloned image was on) and also using the healing tool once the layers were flattened, to blur it a bit around some edges. Creating the finished photo (below). A bit of hard work on the computer but worth it I think!

Darryl destroying himself with a mighty blast!

Ian then went on to light up his car with the cornucopia of flash gels we had. While Darryl ate his make shift shutter release button and took very few photos, though he was a very good participating model for the light shots. As we were finishing off we saw the odd beam of light get closer and closer and for some reason I was put on guard to keep an eye on the road, typical men, leave the girl to face the unknown! Soon the light was heading up our road and straight for us where it transpired to be a local in a Land Rover with a very big spotlight who was out lamping (shooting foxes, which I have to say I don’t agree with!). He was very nice and told us that due to kids coming up and drinking etc at the Loch and causing damage at night that the gate was usually locked further down the road, and it was only open because he was out. Struggling to fathom why kids would come so far out to mess around we said we would lock the gate behind us when we went back down the road. So it was not what we had expected for our shoot and didn’t do so good on the star trails, but it was a good, fun night and we got some great abstract shots, even if we didn’t see an UFO after all!

Long shutter and a few flash gun flashes turn Darryl into a ghost

What I discovered on this shoot was how much torchlight is actually needed to bring objects into a shot when you are in complete darkness. A lot! A helluva lot!

I was shooting in bulb mode and had to drop my aperture from f10 to f4.5 just to make the light from the torch have any effect. My first frame was comletely black except for the light from Sarah’s camera which I didn’t even realise was in my frame.

I had visions of an epic photograph of the water (which would be lit by torch) and really long star trails above it, mainly as I had intended to leave the camera sitting for about 45 minutes doing its thing. After just 10 minutes, the sky had a different plan which involved a cloud coverage en-mass.

Not a lot came of this shoot from the photo side of things (from my point of view) but it was a lot of fun!

Torch lit falls

Looking over Loch Earn from St Fillans

After a little unplanned hiatus from our little trips into the unknown, PK were back in action last night armed with our cameras and flashgels for a bit of night photography.

We were joined by Mike in Perth and decided to head to the Lochearnhead area to try and capture the water with some star trails. Unfortunately the moon wasn’t playing ball and was shining WAY too much light into the night sky to attempt any proper trail shots.

On saying that, the location turned out to be full of options: The beach, treelines, the boat jettys, the moon shining through the woods, the footbridge, a steamed up phone box… plenty for 3 people to be getting on with!

As usual the shutter speed was a mixture of experience and guesswork but I was averaging around 10 minute exposures shooting at f16 and iso100 when pointing away from the moon.

I was determined to put my new flash gels into action (under £5 on Ebay) on this shoot – they have certainly paid off. Maybe a bit fiddly to set up but for the price they perform very well. I tried them out on some trees to start with and after being impressed by the amount of colour they throw out, soon moved onto a phone box and my car.

The main problem with flash gels is how much you have to open the lens up for the colour to even show up on your shots. I’m thinking about investing in a good torch to use the gels with so I can ‘paint’ the colour onto the subject rather than just a quick flash of light. Watch this space…

I’d had a long crap day with a busy day at work that started at 7am after a restless night, a steadily worsening migraine that was particularly sensitive to noise and light, migraine tablets left at home, struggle home with bags of shopping only to realise I left one at the shop and had to walk back to get it. But still I dragged myself out for a night shoot thanks to the miracle of the recovered tablets.

Although the lights of passing cars were a bit too bright the location we got to was great, dark and quiet. Heaven! though the flash guns turned me into a gremlin, bright light, bright light! Although my sense of balance was a bit askew I managed to set up the tripod (though must admit some shots were pretty squint) and with ISO 100 and F10 ish I got settled in for the 2-5 mins exposures. Did do one 10 min one but as the moon was so bright it just looked like daytime! The strong moonlight also made star trials difficult to capture. We really need to check the moon status before we go on these night trips.

Got some lovely shots over the Loch and through the tress and we disturbed the village with our calling to each other and the bodily functioning noises from the boys, sorry bout that people! But the gorgeous loch with snow capped hills and half sunken boat was not the only thing the location offered. Along with the small village which included a large hotel and great tree, there was also the telephone box. Exciting stuff I know! But add some colours of flash courtesy of 2 flash guns with coloured gels, a cold model, a full moon and some frost and you get a great Dr Whoesk shot. Must admit it was fun though the locals probably thought us a bit strange.

To finish off I kept the camera out on the way home and took slow shots from inside (5-10 secs) while we were moving, giving some odd but cool light painting shots. This worked best in the towns and city so there was some more light and movement outside of the car and also the focus light didn’t blind us all! All in all it was a good night and made up a bit for the carppy day, but once home the migraine decided it wasn’t finished yet and I was forced to sleep for about 12 hours!

Mike in the box and blue flash behind thanks to Ian