Loch Lomond Shoreline
On the South West corner of Loch Lomond lies a small bay named Cameron Bay, which is where this image was captured. Staying at Cameron House gave the opportunity to grab many pictures of this shoreline, from Duck Bay to the North, to Balloch on the Loch Lomond Shores area of the Loch. The nearer background in green shows the island of Inchmurrin, and further in the distance shows the mountain range on the far bank of the Loch. Considering the field of focus involved in this image, it still manages to get much of the subject in focus. Although it wasn't a sunny day, it was still bright enough to drop the ISO to 64.
Olympus OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ 3.5 ~ 1/80th ~ ISO64 ~ 19mm
Cloud Reflection
This image was also taken from Cameron Bay, and the composition took my eye with the reflection of the clouds, combined with the lily pads, trees & sun flare. Due to the angle which looked straight into the sun, the capture speed was cut to 1/25th second, while keeping the ISO to only 64. I also stepped the exposure down 0.7 to slighly darken the final image. The sun flare was created by the lens, which can be seen within the trees on the right hand side of the bay. Although the far bank in the distance is probably nearly a mile away, most of the detail is still visible, which is helped by utilising an apature of f14. Just a point to note: If I had used a Polarising filter, very little reflection would have been seen.
Olympus OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ f14 - 1/25th - ISO64 - 12mm
Lomond SeaPlane
Cameron House has a jetty by Loch Lomond, which is where a small sea plane can be booked for tours around the Loch. Even late in the year when I visited the Loch, the sea plane was fully booked, but I managed to capture it parked and waiting for it's next trip. Not knowing much about various aircraft models, I presumed this to be a small passenger Cessna, and appeared to carry about 8 or 10 passengers. Cameron House invites many wealthy guests from near and far, therefore, these trips are affordable by most visitors. The local scenery of Cameron Bay gave a lovely backdrop to the colourful sea plane. Notice that the ISO setting of 200 allowed for a faster shutter speed to reduce the risk of blurring of the movement of the aircraft.
Olympus OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ f5 ~ 1/160th ~ ISO200 ~ 40mm
Cameron House
Cameron House is a Five AA Red Star Hotel, complete with all the bells & whistles you would expect from this exclusive building. It is difficult to describe the class and stature of the building, let alone the service, food and facilities that Cameron House has to offer. This image shows just one aspect of the grand building, but there are so many features of the structure which are remarkable. This picture displays the front entrance, with the large chandelier in the doorway, however, there are spectacular features throughout the building. Because the field of focus was reasonably small, I kept the apature as wide as I could, which allowed for a 1/500th second exposure (in case of any movement). Before any comments start appearing, I realise that the picture is slightly angled, but felt this may give a more realistic (and possibly more Artistic) appearance.
Olympus OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ f3.1 ~ 1/500th ~ ISO200 ~ 17mm
Gunnera tinctoria
Within the grounds of Cameron House lies a vast extense of woodland, amongst which is a small woodland for young children to learn about nature. This short nature trail has information marker posts for many birds, insects and small animals, which encourage children to look out for various things. I had never seen this plant before, so it was an eduction for me too. The Chilean Rhubarb (AKA Gunnera Tinctoria) grows to an enormous size, and can often overpower other plants in it's shadow. I carried my trusty tripod with me, as I do on most photo shoots, but this allowed me to set the timer for a selfie with this huge plant. Because the canopy of the woodland shaded the light somewhat, I opened the apature to f4, as well as setting the ISO to 1200. This allowed a faster shutter speed in case any breeze moved the leaves.
Olympus OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ f4 ~ 1/80th ~ ISO1200 ~ 34mm
Lomond Boat Trips
At the far Southerly end of Loch Lomond there is a town called Balloch. Some of the town is quite Touristy, espectially due to the Boat Trip Hire on the River Leven, which leads to Loch Lomond. The boat trip tickets are purchased near the marina in the town, and take tourists onto the Loch, describing the features enroute. These boats can be seen from all around the loch at various times of the day. The timing was slightly out on this image... 5 seconds before the boat arrived, there was a Cormorant on the post in the foreground.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 mkiii ~ f5 ~ 1/200th seconds ~ ISO200 - 60mm
Bramble Wood
In the same Nature Trail wood as the Gunnera Tinctoria, Bramble Wood, There are several picnic tables set out in a large clearing. This seems to be a great area for families with young children to have lunch and maybe have a few games before the wildlife learning commences. As you can see, the picnic furniture is all made from fallen trees from the woodland, which makes it all self-sufficient. The forestry trained staff seem to have a knack for this type of skill. I took advantage of this area to take another selfie. The clearing let in more light than the rest of the woodland, which allowed me to use the camera settings stated below.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 mkiii ~ f3.5 - 1/60th - ISO320 - 22mm
Private Helicopter
Although rare, helicopters at Cameron House are not unheard of. Such is the class of this luxurious location. Whether the pilot was visiting for the golf course, a business meeting, or just a few days away from the Rat Race, the helicopter was only here for a few days, then gone again. As can be seen from the camera settings below, there was nothing unusual about the way this image was captured, in fact, it was probably just set to Auto & let the camera decide what settings to use. As complex as cameras can be these days, there are times when turning the dial to Auto will do.
OMD EM5 Mkiii ~ f4.5 ~ 1/100th ~ ISO200 ~ 23mm
WaterCraft Vehicles
On a walk from Cameron Bay to the South, I spotted these recreational water craft. Amongst them were: Paddle Boards, Kayaks, Canoes & Kata-Canoes. I'm not sure if these were just for hire, or if lessons were given at certain times of the day, but the colours caught my eye, so decided to look for an appealing composition. I quite like the beach-like foreground, with the watercraft vehicles in the centre ground, and the frame of trees & mountains all around them. The combination of settings below gave the most pleasing result.
OMD E-M5 Mkiii ~ f13 ~ 1/80th ~ ISO320 ~ 12mm
Lomond Marina
As part of this area of Loch Lomond, there is a full-on Marina, with some really exclusive boats, and the marina bar & grill was lovely too. I tried many aspects to get the best composition, but felt that this driftwood on the shoreline worked better. There were several pieces of driftwood, but the reflection from this caught my eye. Getting as low as possible, without falling in, was key to this picture. I wanted a fast shutter speed to keep the reflection sharp, so I opened the apature to f3.2 to compensate. The sky was overcast, but still bright enough to stick with ISO200
OMD E-M5 mkiii ~ f3.2 ~ 1/800th ~ ISO200 ~ 12mm
Loch Lomond Shores
This area of the Loch is nearly at the southern most point, where a decent shopping area lies. Many clothes shops, food outlets and tourist places can be found in this Bay area, as well as a Sealife Centre. There are several picnic areas where you can enjoy the scenery, and feed the birds, while relaxing before a further session of sight seeing. The family activities in this area bring many varieties of birds, which are quite used to human interaction, and photography is made easy. This is just one of the many pictures I snapped, of Mummy Swan with her young.
OMD E-M5 markiii ~ f6.3 ~ 1/320th ~ ISO200 ~ 60mm
Duck Bay
Duck Bay is just North of Cameron Bay. It boasts quite an exclusive restaurant with a stunning view of the Loch. To be honest, I was spoilt for choice when trying to choose just one image to showcase this area, but picked this one due to the colours & asthectically pleasing composition. The apature of f7.1 seemed to give a deep enough Field of Focus, while the ISO of 200 let in enough light, considering it was quite cloudy. I could have slowed the shutter speed down to smooth the water, but with the slight breeze, the flag would have blurred.
Olympus E-M5 mark iii ~ f7.1 ~ 1/320th ~ ISO200 ~ 75mm
The Falkirk Wheel
The Genius behind this simple wheel is amazing, due to Archimedes Princple. Even if you don't know the precise wording, the term EUREKA rings a bell with most people. When I first heard of this wheel, I couldn't work out how one side with a boat would equal the other side without a boat, until you understand Displacement. As a boat enters one of the gondolas, it displaces water, therefore equals the weight between the two gondolas. The eneregy used to rotate the wheel is only about the same amount as several kettles boiling, making this extremely economical to run.
Olympus E-M5 Mkiii ~ Video Mode ~ Edited to play at 1.5 x speed
The Kelpies
The Legend behind these mythical beasts can be the things of nightmares due to the life taking stories. However, The Kelpies, located near Falkirk, are spectacular to behold. They are the largest Equine structure in the world, boasting a height of 30 metres. The original thought in the concept of these sculptures was twofold, as well as the legenary mythological transforming beasts, they also represent the work done by horses over many, many years to pull barges and boats through the canal systems. I have purposely left visitors in the image to give the enormous scale involved.
Olympus E-M5 Mkiii ~ f5.6 ~ 1/160th ~ ISO64 ~ 28mm
