Something to tide you over whilst I recover my crashed hard drive – and the lesson is always back up – I did

A close off centre crop of a Monkey Puzzle Tree – this is a close up taken with a 50-200 non VR lens. I would love to get hold of a Macro lens – would love to see the close up potential.

Reblogged from The Digital Lightroom:

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The Theme for round three of the Digital Lightroom photography competition is Still Life.  The total opposite of the last round you might say, but what is a Still Life image?

It is often viewed as a technical form of photography where many aspects come together to form an image, either constructed or found. Composition, lighting and exposure are critical to give your image the textures and tonal quality to make it more than just a "record shot" of an object or scene.

Read more… 416 more words

Reblogged from The Digital Lightroom:

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The second DLR photo competition prompted a huge response.  The standard was very high and it was difficult to come up with just 10 pictures for the shortlist but we did and it was then down to you.  As soon as the polls were open, votes started pouring in.  Hundreds of people chose to vote and we're very grateful to you all.

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This is from a wee walk on the West Beach the other evening, the longer evenings have been great but I have been unable to grab the opportunities with a multitude of personal inputs. Where I hope to ease in to my new career but the reality wont allow me to go quietly. This typical Moray lots going on – texture and light changes, reflections etc etc – I hope you enjoy. Your continued support is appreciated and highly motivational – Scott

I thought it only right and proper to share the other side of Skye (the we dont often have sunny days here Skye) this image was captured about 10 hours prior to Elgol 50 which allows for some compare and contrast. The shot is slightly further up the beach but in essence it is the same view (just a little tighter) the mountains had been drifting in and out of cloud – but on this occasion i liked the fact that you could see just the hills and cloud obscures the rest of the view. The challenge here was keeping the lens dry…. Enjoy

Classic Scotland nothing more to say – on sale at Photo4me.com

Well I am off on a bit of a photo sojourn – so I thought I better get posting or you will be losing interest in my blog. I am concious that I have been posting mainly landscapes recently so this time I thought – a little quirky architectural mono may be suitably different to keep you amused – anyway – as always you can decide – enjoy

lots of subtle light varied in the way it is has dappled itself unequally across the sky and wet sand – somewhere in Moray – well you cant have all the details or you will be on my doorstep pinching my great sky’s

I am afraid I have not been out and about recently as I am extremely busy which disappoints me immensely so rather than dig in to the archives this time I have decided to publish an image which has lain on the cutting room floor so to speak. I promise to catch up with all you wonderful blogs over the coming weeks. Enjoy

Apologies rather busy just now and not getting out and about so have been delving in to the archives and this appeared.I was drawn to the sun attempting to break through the thick cloud over the Cairngorm’s – with limited effect.

I am not of Catholic Faith however as today was the inauguration of Pope Francis I thought I would share a shot I took of the Sistine Chapel in Rome – The Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480. The chapel is the location for Papal Conclaves and many important services. The ceiling’s various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the Chapel, which includes the fresco The Last Judgement on the sanctuary wall, also by Michelangelo.Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis of which the Creation of Adam is the best known, having an iconic standing equalled only by Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the hands of God and Adam being reproduced in countless imitations. The complex design includes several sets of individual figures, both clothed and nude, which allowed Michelangelo to fully demonstrate his skill in creating a variety of poses for the human figure, and have provided an enormously influential pattern book of models for other artists ever since.

It is moments like these that have convinced me to live here on the Moray Coast. That pre dawn moment, the town is still asleep not even the dog walkers are out just an idiot with a tripod – a calm nervous silence is all around.

I apologize for not replying to all of your recent comments but I wanted to share an image before departing for the weekend and I couldn’t do both. I promise to catch up early next week. I wish all the mothers a happy Mothering Sunday so make sure you spoil your Mum for at least one day of the year
Anyway I don’t post many Black and White landscapes but I thought the contrast in this scene lent itself to some mono treatment. I am rather pleased with it. I edited it in Lightroom 4 which I bought at student rates (I am a student after all) using my PayPal account generated from my photo sales so I actually earned this software which gave me a real thrill. I am hoping the reinvestment will pay for itself. Have a great weekend everyone and happy blogging.

Well my local icon wasn’t satisfied by playing second fiddle and basking in the shadow of some moody light. Red as my iconic friend is known wanted to be centre stage this time. I have several ideas in the pipeline which may become known as the Phonebox series or Red Moods – I can hear the gasps of anticipation.

I have been so many locations recently when the sun hasn’t even peaked out from the cloud and I haven’t had the time to hang around for the light to change. This can leave very flat opportunities – until recently the camera would probably have remained in the bag. But as an amateur with limited time out and about I have to deal with what I can get and lets face it this is the Scotland many people are faced with. So your challenge here is to look that bit closer for the light, it is there very subtly – these locations and conditions always generate a calm which relaxes me.

Well I was hoping to challenge you a little here – this is taking my minimal theme to the extreme – have I gone to far

Not a great deal to say here – simply a powerful light show – amplified by the still reflection upon an ebbing tide.

This is a shot I have been after for while now but it had been to windy for lengthy exposures. The other challenge was only a new moon in the sky filtered by clouds meant using a torch to manipulate the settings. Most notable challenge was focus with insufficient light for the autofocus to hang on then it was back to good old fashioned manual focus – equally challenging without cross-hairs – but trial and error prevailed – I like the lick of cloud breaking up the starry backdrop. I learnt a lot and am really starting to enjoy night photography – there are some excellent results to be had.

I seen an image of one of the Moray coastal fishing villages which I knew was tweaked but I didn’t understand how so I went along took my own shot and have attempted the same effect – I spent a lot of time trial and error but think I have got the hang of it. Anyway you wont see too many of these – but I do feel this particular location works well for the tilt-shift process. Tilt-shift for the uninformed is Gaussian blur applied across all but a band of the image which you want to remain normal plus a little boost the contrast and saturation offering a dreamy toy village effect.

Well I though I would demonstrate the diversity of textures in the Scottish landscape – even on a dricht day contrasts can be found – less than 300 meters from my misty Loch Duich was this stark contrast – by avoiding the mist and dricht using along lens to isolate the reflection – I ended up with this. I was drawn to the circular shape and the title fell from that – admittedly the colour is a little flat but then that is how it was – notice also the tide draining out of this sea loch placing the seaweed just below the surface in nice lines

Reblogged from tahira's shenanigans:

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Special Feature

Scott Marshall Photography (Scotland)

I don't think anyone who knows me or has followed my blog will be surprised that my Special Feature for the month of February is all about Scotland.

And Scott over at Scott Marshall Photography perfectly captures the exact essence of what makes me love Scotland.

In all fairness I have to give a shout-out to my gal Gunta over at 

Read more… 419 more words

I have been hankering at taking a minimalist soft focus image – which was inspired by work from a few of my fellow bloggers. I wont name names at this point but those who follow similar artists to myself will have a reasonable idea. Anyway something a little different which evokes the moodiness of Scotland at it’s best. Enjoy

Had this hanging around for a while but wasn’t to sure anyway as I have to go and bury my head in my first assignment for my just commenced Photography Higher Professional Diploma – I will leave you to decide if I got it level in the end .

Reblogged from Rodposse.:

Scott Marshall
likes also Rodposse competitions
and he wants to give it a try!
http://skm1963.wordpress.com/
GOOD LUCK

I hope your eyes  are wandering across the vista seeking the haunted Castle which I am referring to. I stayed here when I was 15 on a tour of the Highlands which was run by my school. This and a subsequent trip to Minnesota have in many shaped the creative side of me. I have ghost story to tell with this picture – but you wouldn’t believe me and it would take to long. So please just enjoy this and if you get the chance to go and stay (it is Scottish Youth Hostel Association venue) don’t think twice.

The classic Scottish Golf tease it could be Turnberry to the uninitiated it is in fact a small 9 hole golf course called Covesea after the lighthouse of the same name. In the early Spring (not that long now) the yellow sea of gorse comes alive and we know we are emerging from winters grip.

Well I was planning to post this image some 3 hours ago but I started messing about with the crop and 3 hours later I still wasn’t happy but decided to hit save anyway. It was a lot easier when I posted this on Instagram less to think about. All in all it is about the myriad of colours and light n shade which all converge on the building. Classic harsh winter light

Using an old Post Office Red Telephone Box to filter the sunlight bursting through the cloud after sunrise – the filter generated some really dramatic light – I particularly like the chair drowned in the light drama

Here we are in the depths of winter and I realised I have not generated a good old fashioned sunset since mid November – now there is a reason for that of course (I am working when the light departs) but I was down the beach last weekend when this happened and I thought you may like this little chase of light……

This is a shot I took along time back which compositionally I was happy with but the upper part of the Sky was alittle blown so I thought I would mess around with some infrared & mono interpretations. Anyway the long and the short of it is I rather like this and may well try some more IR shots. Enjoy

This is probably the image that made me take photography more seriously – for a long time I regarded it as my best shot – the last time I rolled this out was May last year and it received a mere 8 likes (naturally I was dissapointed but was not long in to blogging so no real surprises. Anyway this shot is a wet film rescan and is now 25 years old – so here is my question has it stood the test of time? Secondly do you think it reflects my style as you have come to know it? Any feedback would be appreciated.