The Slim Waterfall, Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye, Scotland

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

One day on the Isle of Skye, I decided to head for the famous Fairy Pools. This marvel offers a 2.4km walk along a series of natural pools and waterfalls with the gorgeous Cuillin Mountains in the background. This location is a visual paradise!
At this vantage point, I installed my camera and tripod.

I composed and framed the image using a 38 mm focal length. I used a portrait orientation so that our vision would be trapped in the intimate waterfall corridor, which also frames the gorgeous distant mountain peak. I was amazed to see this soft crossed flow and the contrast of forms, colours and textures.

On the technical aspect, to ensure that I would gather the full dynamic range of this scene, I took five shots with a 1-stop increment. Back home, I would have all the necessary pixels to produce the final image.

One other important technical element is the exposure time. If I had used an exposure time too long, the water flow would have been flat with no texture, like boring heavy cream! I used a 0,6 sec exposure time. Doing so, I softly amplified the water flow and kept the texture.

We found the Scottish Highlands wonderful to photograph. There are so many places containing all the important elements of composition: lines, curves, textures, patterns, shapes, colours, and frames, frequently under cloudy skies.