I organized a photo trip with friends in the beautiful Scottish Highlands a few years ago. We spent one week in the Glencoe region and a second on the Isle of Skye. The Highlands are truly a photographer's paradise. I relied mainly on the Landscape Photographer's Guide for both regions to plan the trip, having bought the eBooks on LPM's website.

On September 18th, I decided to get up early and go scouting around our accommodation in Broadford. A few minutes later, this backlit opening in the clouds caught my attention, and I had to get this shot. Hand held, I used a 50 mm focal length to frame the image and used a high ISO (1600) to avoid motion blur. For optimal exposure, I overexposed the metered reading by 1 stop.

I included the properties near the shoreline in the frame to show the immensity of the landscape.

The previous night, I had taken an impression in the clouds of a wild animal spraying light on the Isle of Skye. Here is the image in my LPM portfolio.

A third gorgeous landscape picture was taken two days later, in the morning, from the front balcony:

Please have a look at my LPM Portfolio to see the images taken in this lovely area.

The Scottish Highlands are a photographer's paradise. There are so many places containing all the important elements of composition: lines, curves, textures, patterns, shapes, and colors. There are numerous great opportunities for images under giant light-box skies with even, soft lighting. Always be prepared to stop and park safely when driving a vehicle in the Highlands. On several occasions during our trip, as a joke, we asked each other, "Do we have to go back home?"

I shared this experience with my friends at my local photo club in Montreal, and last fall, six of them spent a month in the Highlands. They loved it!