From the Crinan Canal we left the pub behind and paddled north across Loch Crinan to the sandy beach below Duntrune Castle.
This was a wonderful place to stop for a leisurely lunch.
From the mouth of Loch Craignish, looking out through the Dorus Mor to the Gulf of Corryvreckan.
After lunch we wanted to make sure the tide had built up to maximum flow in the Dorus Mor, so we took a little detour into Loch Craignish to give it some more time.
12/02/2008
Lunching under a castle, oh I sure do love what kayaking does for the soul. Looks like a beautiful day.
ReplyDeleteDouglas I've been researching the Alaw Bach kayaks, hopign perhaps to get one down the road. What is your take on the boat if you have time to respond my email is stanmac@nl.rogers.com, I would very much like to hear whatever info you could shed on the boat's performance. From what I've read they seem to hold up well in lots of conditions following seas, current, easy to roll etc.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are always of very high quality, but I am particularly struck by the two today that are taken apparently into the sun, but in which detail is preserved, rather than shaded.
ReplyDeletehttp://bp0.blogger.com/_YDeW6uBEz2o/R8SZox1vCzI/AAAAAAAACn0/5htpi0sYcns/s1600-h/080212IMG_0992.jpg
and
http://bp3.blogger.com/_YDeW6uBEz2o/R8XmCR1vC4I/AAAAAAAACoc/fa7nXeLZS3E/s1600-h/080212IMG_1031.jpg
I was wondering what sort of settings and exposures you have used to obtain such pictures? I don't mind, of course, if you prefer not to reveal your methods, but I think you have achieved good results there.
Hello Stan, it was a simply stunning location. We are lucky here in Scotland there are so many coastal castles.
ReplyDeleteI really like the Rockpool as a rough water day boat and for weekend trips. I prefer it with a skeg. I wrote a long term test for it in issue 4 of Ocean Paddler. It was based on this review.
Hello Savage family, I am glad you liked those photos, thank you! Most cameras give a silhouette when taking into the light shots or in other high contrast photos. This is so common that it looks "normal" and high dynamic range photos such as the two you refer to look unnatural, (yet they are much more akin to what your eyes see at the time). The web is full of how to take HDR photos which normally are composites of several photos taken with different exposures and blended in Photoshop. I often use that technique but it is not possible to do it easily where the light bits are so intertwined with the dark bits as in the tree shot.
The tree shot was taken with a wide angle lens, 21mm, to make the sun a relatively small source of light. I used an expensive lens (Canon L series lens) to minimise flare and maximise contrast.
Expensive lenses also tend to distort the horizon less when it does not run through the centre of the photo.
It is easier to reclaim detail from underexposed parts of a photo than from highlights, which once burned out are lost for ever. So in this case I exposed for the sky rather than the foreground. The exposure was 1/800th at f20 at 400ASA.
I used the camera RAW setting to save the digital photo. This results a much larger file than the usual jpeg but it stores a lot more detail, particularly in the shadow areas. On the computer, I used the Camera Raw software to open the file and used its exposure and fill light controls to bring out the shadow detail on the trees and bracken. It was pretty easy!
:o)