The Long Exposure

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First of all Happy New Year and I hope 2012 is kind to each and everyone of you.  I'm sorry I haven't posted over the Christmas period but this was mainly due to a lack of internet access where we were staying on the Isle of Mull for the past week.  Despite some very stormy and wet weather I managed to squeeze in some time for photography during our break and I will post some of the images I took from Mull over the coming weeks.

Calve Island, at the entrance to Tobermory Harbour
With the light being so poor most of the time, the choice was either to crank up the ISO or get the tripod out and go for a long exposure.  Luckily most of the subjects I choose to focus on suit the long exposure method. 

After a stormy ferry crossing from Oban to Mull on Boxing Day (26th December), the weather on the morning of the 27th was very kind and I walked down to Tobermory harbour in almost perfect conditions.

Tobermory - this image is available to buy as a limited edition print HERE

The first shot of the harbour front was taken with a 30 second exposure at f11 and the effect of the long exposure was to smooth out the sea in the foreground with some movement recorded in the clouds.


Swinging my lens around I recorded the sunrise over the boats in the harbour. The scene was also captured with a 30 second exposure, using an ND8 neutral density filter (+3 stops) to allow such long shutter speeds.  The danger with using a long exposure with objects such as boats is they can move due to wind or tides during the exposure.  If you look closely some of the masts are blurred, but the overall effect of the image is pleasing.


The waterfall image was taken down at Loch Na Keal and is an 8 second exposure at f14.  Again long exposures are perfect to capture the movement of the water over the rocks.


The final shot was taken at midnight on Hogmanay and shows the firework celebrations in Tobermory to mark the start of 2012.  A 5-second exposure captured the explosions and the lights in the harbour.  Stupidly I had left my tripod at the cottage and had to resort to holding the camera on top of a fence.  Not the ideal solution but when needs must!

Tobermory Harbour

ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION.

MORE IMAGES CAN BE VIEWED ON  FLICKR
Location: Argyll and Bute, UK

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