What’s up guys?
How are all you amazing people doing? Good? *I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed.
I wanted to start off with saying a big massive thank you for the response from my first blog post. I’ve been absolutely blown away with the comments, tweets and a few DMs. You guys are actually amazing. It really does put a smile on my face. :).
This month started with the excitement of Scotland playing in their first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup. Unfortunately we never made it out of the group stage but so proud of the girls just to qualify. We really do have a good group of talented players and I’m feeling really positive about qualifying again for the euros. The team are only going to be stronger and stronger from this experience.
A few weeks ago I got the chance for another road trip and it wasn’t raining. (Woop Woop). For this trip we headed west, firstly arriving at Loch Katrine and got a few lovely shots of fast flowing water. This is skill which I’m still learning so the feedback I received mainly on Instagram is so invaluable. Even when it’s just a comment or DM to say the image would off been better with going down 2-3 stops.
Along with bringing down my shutter speed settings. So thank you guys.
After visiting Lock Katrine, we drove on for a few hours then arrived in Inveraray. A place I had never been to before. Which is a little town in west of Scotland. I didn’t realise how much history was within the town. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay as long as I would have liked to and had to leave earlier than I wanted. But I was able to atleast get this image of the Vital Spark (below).
Now prior to this month I had never heard of the vital spark (I’m sorry, please forgive me), but I was told that the ship that I had photographed was a feature of a book and tv show back in the 1960s. If you’re interested yourself there is the link from Wikipedia (not sponsored). When I got home I absolutely fell in the love with this image of the vital spark and the background scenery of the hills and the loch. So I decided that I would use some of the skills I have learned over the last few month to enhance the image with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. Normally the photos I upload to my Flickr/ Instagram or website page have very little editing at all and are pretty much straight from the camera. Maybe a crop or a level here and there. But nothing really more than that.
But for this image I decided to make a few tweaks including adjust the exposure/ lighting and playing around with the HSL settings to bring out the reds and dark blues on the vital spark. Then finally adding 2 graduated filter to bring out the colours from the sky and the sand at the bottom.
I really like how this image has came out and I’m really excited about sharing this photograph with you guys and hearing your feedback.
Hopefully you’ve stayed with me. (Yay or nay? Let me know).
I have also been asked to consider submitting an entry for the BBC Countryfile Photographic completion where the 12 best entries from the United Kingdom will be chosen and selected to be used in the Countryfile 2020 calendar with proceeds going to charity.
Decisions Decisions………..
And until the next time, see you soon.
Many Thanks
John
