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As always, a lovely video! Reflections really engage the viewer in a way all their own. The way you talk us through the reasoning behind the specific shot is very helpful. I love how you pull out the vibrancy and distinctiveness of the colors in post processing. It really makes them pop! Also, the way you handled the sky so that it did not overpower, but enhanced the image was beautiful! Thank you!
still working on it! I started it shortly after that video went out, but, I was using Adobe products at the time and I'm in the middle of trying to decide if I want to stay with Adobe for another year or not. I didn't want to put out a video using software I no longer use and I wasn't completely sure I could replicate the edits with new software I wasn't familiar with yet, so I decided to halt it until I'd decided whether to stay or go as far as Adobe was concerned. If I decide to stay with Adobe the video will be out soon, if I decide to switch products the video might be delayed until I'm familiar with the new software!
@@JohnMcKennaPhotography Thank you for the update. It makes sense. I will probably continue with Adobe, but I don’t do the Creative Cloud for storing anything, so I think I’m safe. But they really engaged in overreach. Understanding what they were trying to do just feels “dirty”. Whether you stay with Adobe or go to something else, I’ll look forward to seeing your process when you have it ready to share. All the best to you, John. Just love your work!
At least they didn't put those stupid sculptures in the a'Ghleannain that they did in Spling. There's a place for public art but it shouldn't ruin the view. A pity your other sites were stimmied but unless you get there early on a weekday you know what the score is ...
Another great video! I love the seashore compositions. The contrast between the smoothed out water and the deeply etched rocks just jumps through the screen. Beautiful! I also loved the shots of the pool that caught your attention. Demonstrating the effect of the polarizer on the reflections was helpful. Once again the selection of music and your narration, with the added effect of the sound of the waves, have really enhanced the presentation of the photos. Thank you! Always a pleasure to accompany you on these explorations.
Hi John I don't have many sea-scapes in my portfolio and have taken great inspiration from this video, some terrific images here my friend I will be billeted near Castle Stalker for 7 days next week and will use your tips on the shores along loch Linnhe, thank you.
Beautiful colourful coastal landscape images. Appreciate your comments on the images you are trying to achieve. Have you thought of buying the BR-E1 remote release ? Makes taking long exposure images a lot easier. Norman.
Thanks Norman. I have the RC-6 remote control but the battery was flat on this day. (Typical!) I don't think the BR-E1 works with my camera as it's bluetooth and my old 5D MkIII doesn't have bluetooth.
An area I know well, John, a long exposure was definitely the way to go with the Bright conditions you got some lovely foreground detail with the various coloured Seaweeds. If I am with my Wife we usually head down to Ballantrae to the wee Garden centre for something to eat.
Hi John, one of my favourite places, before I retired I used to pass by here at least once a month throughout the year, so I have seen this in all weathers. Great pictures, enjoyed this a lot. Donny.
@@JohnMcKennaPhotography We are good mate, thank you. No not going in December but was at the Foo Fighters last night and it was brilliant. We are heading to New York in December so hopefully get some nice New York Christmas shots
Wonderful, tranquil video. You can feel the calming vibes pouring out of the TV on this one. I'm trying to figure out where you are exactly? Is it near the car park on the B8034 north of Arnprior?
Thanks Dougie. Yeh, at the little car park in the woods on the B8034 just a few hundred yards south of the Inchmahome Priory Car Park. Literally just crossed the road to the lake and did the entire video from that little stretch with the reeds.
As soon as we were allowed to travel locally after lockdown I went to the Lake of Menteith and spent most of the afternoon there. I was the only car in the carpark all afternoon. No boats, no people, no planes, not the sound of a man made thing; just birds and buzzy things. Gave up the photography after an hour and just sat. I'm also one of the very few people that has done a full 360 degree of the lake on foot, through bog and ditch and mire, past the Roman camp, out on to the peninsula and past the Nick Nairn cook school. I got the feeling I was out of my comfort zone when I walked past a dead sheep stuck in the bog ... unsettling. It gave the truth to the story that 'Lake' is just an Anglophide mis-naming of Laich (low lying bog) of Menteith. Some really nice shots but you feel very isolated. I think a fair few of your shots on this vlog had that Japanese Zen feel to them.
Thanks Iain! I'd never thought of doing a circuit of the lake. Did it take long? It's a lovely spot steeped in history and folklore (watch out for a "Tales from Scotland" from here soon) but one which most people (including me) speed by on their way somewhere "more glamourous". I've already got plans to return for a sunset sometime soon! (if access allows on the other side, I might even try a sunrise one morning)
@@JohnMcKennaPhotography There is no path. What I did was reckless. Although I did get some nice shots of places (accessible by boat) there's plenty of drainage ditches and barbed wire fences to catch out the unwary and where's there's no drainage ditches it quickly turns into bog. There's a farm on the west side (Roman fort just flat fields) but the roadway would be intrusive and isn't close to the shore. Circumnavigation took about six hours in midsummer including cutting through what was probably Nick Nairn's garden, legs were rubber by the end and I was glad to get back on the east side road. Its not something I'd do again. If you wanted an excursion in the area I'd suggest the top of the Menteith Hills accessible by going up to the Pots of Glenny and then cutting over the fields; a steep walk but great views.
Only you could take a simple grouping of reeds and turn it into a magnificent painting of nature. This was like sitting in the shade on a hot day and saying…ahhhhhh. 😊❤
Relaxing, indeed! A wonderful video! The setting and the shots were beautiful and created a meditative vibe for me. The music you chose to complement the video was perfect! One element that makes all of your videos relaxing is your narration. Your voice has a soft, intimate tone to it. That draws the listener in and produces a “cozy” kind of effect-even when you are photographing waterfalls!! Thank you! Another great start to my Sunday. One thought regarding the dark shot you took of the tree trunk leaning over the water. I’m wondering what kind of effect you would have had if you had raised the ISO so as to still the ripples. In that particular shot, the blurring of the water felt more distracting to me. (Just my personal reaction, not a critique of the shot. That’s what got me wondering about how it would have looked with a faster shutter speed.) As always, great work. I look forward to your next video.
Lovely video John. Stayed nearby one autumn day that started with a good frost and turned into a sunny day with beautiful colours. I now need to go back soon. Very peaceful. Thanks for sharing.
I’m lucky to be able to have two weeks in Scotland next October November and I will put this lake on itinerary for sure thanks for your video … did you park at the menteith car park ….!
Nice Abstract reflective shots John, It's ridiculous allowing those Fishermen out on the Lake when there is a Photoshoot in progress need to get back up to the Lake again soon, it's been a little while.
I'm so close to this I can walk there but I've never been there because I'd probably be on my own and I wouldn't want to come a cropper! I would love to shoot it though, it must be the only local spot I've not got to!
It's a great spot but a bit too popular now. That said I'm hoping to return again in the Autumn! Definitely worth a visit but be very careful if visiting alone. (Although chances are you wont be on your own for long!)
Found your most excellent video of The Devil's Pulpit via a Canadian's reaction video (PI189 ?) and so glad to do so. Amazingly beautiful shots... Sorry to say this was the very first time I had heard of the place but so glad to have seen your photos of it now. Thank-you for sharing. 🙂🏴❤️🖖
@@JohnMcKennaPhotography No, sorry... I also got his name wrong, sorry, it's pi1872, (not 189) sorry about that. I have asked him if he could contact you... I hope that's okay. Thanks again. 🙂🏴🖖
Another great video - I especially love the one at the 12:05 marker where you avoided the polarizer so you could see through the water surface - that had some fabulous green tones in the water. Would love to see how you merge multiple photos with such a range of different exposures and shutter speeds into a single image.
Wow, that has got really overgrown since the last time I was there - even then, I was frustrated by the foliage. Some nice shots from further downstream though. It's very much a location for a wet November day though, I think. Legend has it that the pool beneath the waterfall is home to a water-elf named Uris-chidh, who lures victims to their death, so I'm glad that you managed to resist that. I have no idea what that building would have been. I would hazard a guess at an ice house, but it has a look of a wartime utility building about it.
Thanks! Yeh I remember it being a lot less overgrown on my last visit but when I checked some of images from the last trip it was early December 2017, so there were a lot less leaves. I didn't know about the water-elf! Wish I'd known about that at the time. I love all that stuff.
Great compositions, a bugger to shoot due to contrast. Easier in the winter. No mention on Canmore of that construction but I'd be 99% sure it was an icehouse. There's a near identical one about a kilometer WNW of Buchanan Castle, lost in the undergrowth of a minor path, just south of High Mains.
@@JohnMcKennaPhotography The one south of High Mains is 19th century, brick lined with a drop shaft of about ten feet in the middle of it, just wide enough to send a peasant down on a rope. Don't wander in without a torch, its deadly.
I really enjoyed the way you talked us through the images and the challenges each shot posed because of the differing elements: leaf movement, shadow, direct light, effects you wanted to see from the water, etc. You gave me a lot of things to think about. I’m curious about the place of the Devil in naming this location and the Devil’s Pulpit. Are there other “devilish” place names in Scotland? Is there any story behind these names? Did you do a previous video on the Devil’s Cauldron? The view seemed similar to something I have seen before. Thanks again for a great video!
Thanks James! I hadn't shot the Devils Cauldron for a few years. I think the last visit was before I started this RU-vid channel so I wouldn't have shared that trip online anywhere. I'm not sure about why we have so many "devil's" in Scottish place names. There are quite a few though! There's a "Devil's Staircase" in Glencoe which got it's name from the workmen who had to negotiate the steep climb every night after a few beers in the local Inn! There's also a "Devil's Beeftub" down by the border with England and that's where cattle raiders hid their stolen cattle. I think the "Devil's Pulpit" came from early Christian missionary's who wanted to tarnish the reputation of the Druids who used the area before the arrival of Christianity, but no idea about how the Cauldron got it's name.... hmmm... might be a video in there somewhere!
@@iainmc9859 Another RU-vidr (blanking on his channel) did a video on Scotland’s suppression of Christmas, so there could be some connection between that sensibility and associating places in nature with the devil. Would love to know if there are any stories or legends associated with the naming of those places, though.
@@JohnMcKennaPhotographyThere is also the Devil's Point in the Cairngorms, a staid, English translation of it's original Gaelic name, Bod an Deamhain, which means The Devil's Penis.
We all know how good our Greens are for us John and these were very Lush, I did like your darker contrasty process emphasising the highlighted Greens. The Light is always a problem with Rivers and Waterfalls, it was very similar a few days ago up at the Birks of Aberfeldy, the trees and the Greens are Beautiful this year.
