Photo of the Day – 14 October 2016: Castle Stalker Sunset

It has taken a while to select this image of Castle Stalker at sunset as my selection for the day simply due to lack of time.  I spent a week in Glen Coe and the surrounding area, posting images as I went.  Shooting over a nine day period, which included four days travelling to and from Scotland, I amassed well in excess of 1,000 images.  At the end of each day I would scan through the shots and usually there would be an image which was an obvious candidate to post which could be quickly processed in Lightroom.  That does not mean that it was necessarily the best shot and sometimes I chose images for reasons such as the story behind them or to provide variety.

This day was different and it needed some reflection to assess the results.  If you had asked me beforehand whether I thought that a sunset shot of Castle Stalker would be the top pick, I would not have been too optimistic.  In some ways the sunset that day was frustrating as there was very little colour in the sky.  What little there was obstinately stayed away from the castle for much of the time.  There was a light patch, but the clouds were moving slowly and it was almost in the last moments that it finally drifted where I wanted it, behind the castle.  The shot here is an amalgam of three Raw files merged into a HDR file in Lightroom as I wanted to show some detail in the castle.

Castle Stalker Sunset
(Click on image for a larger version)

The sunset was photographed by quite a lot of people that day and most were further away up the hill behind the castle, which is the more usual viewpoint.  Only a few ventured to the shore where the shot above was taken.  Sometimes the most obvious position is not the best one and it is worthwhile exploring the area to see if there is anywhere better.

Castle Stalker by day
(Click on image for a larger version)

I had been at the location earlier when the tide was out.  In part this was to reconnoitre the area, but it was also an opportunity to take other shots of the castle.  I like the reflection in the sunset shot, but with the shore exposed there was opportunity to include a point of interest in the foreground.  Returning in the evening, the water was at it highest and in some places it was a bit of a scramble to get back to the spot chosen earlier in the day.

This post is part of my occasional “Photo of the Day” series when I publish any shots which I think might be of interest and tell the story behind them.  They might not necessarily be portfolio standard images, nor the final version, but still be of sufficient interest for inclusion in my blog.  If I do not show a shot on any given day, it does not mean that I did not take any photographs, just that I did not get anything worthwhile.  For me, that is part of the fun of photography, not knowing what you will find on a shoot when nothing is planned.