I’m Daniel Long and I hope you enjoy my photos!
All tagged Cairngorms National Park
A glorious day gave me the idea to head out and do some wildlife photography, my target Mountain Hares. Surprisingly I found an individual relatively quickly and over time I was able to move into a position that should’ve given good images. However, the heavens opened and I was stood on the hill for a long time before the hare graced me with some great images!
A wonderful morning exploring Glen Affric looking to capture the vibrant colours of autumn in the landscape. From the sunburst yellows of birch trees, to the layering of colours created by bracken. The beautiful valley of Glen Affric does not disappoint in the variety of images to be had.
After a successful landscape photography shoot in the foggy Cairngorm mountains, I turned my attention to my next subject: Ptarmigan. I was to spend the day looking for ptarmigan with the hope of capturing some wildlife photography images, but the weather decided not to co-operate with me. Being rained off the mountain without any pictures, I did some research about ptarmigan behaviour to better know my subject.
After a fraught morning of lost opportunities, I finally make it to where I intend to spend the day filming vlogs. I was planning on doing some landscape photography in the mountains enshrouded by fog and low clouds to create some ethereal and interesting landscape photography images. The results were more than I could expect and I had an amazing session of photography!
An early morning landscape photography excursion to photograph the old bridge in the centre of the village of Carrbridge in Scotland. That being the only subject around, I created this vlog showing the location, my editing process and finally I print the image to join my print collection. But I make a mistake . . .
Arriving at Loch an Eilean there was a tonne of people out enjoying the evening, I wasn’t deterred from my planned Landscape Photography. It was a spectacular evening full of golden light cast across the landscape and vibrant pink and orange colours in the sky. The first 2 images I captured were complicated images to process: an HDR and a Panorama. But the best images came from the setting sun!
Had a bit of a bad start to the morning with a very flat sunrise image but following the colours the golden light that lit the landscape was stunning! Loch Insh gave me 3 golden landscapes, illuminating the forests on the banks of the loch. But my favourite image was from Loch Alvie, the church and reflections in the golden light was perfect!
Another wet and dreary day in Scotland meant that I could enjoy exploring around the East Coast of Loch Ness. The heavy clouds creating an interesting view across the loch, but proving difficult conditions as the day went on. So I decided to show how I process my images, give an insight into how I like to do things, and print the resulting image!
During Lockdown I discovered this little loch not too far from home. It was spring and the lilies were in full bloom. I knew then that I wanted to photograph this lily loch during a colourful sunrise. Fast forward a while and I return to the loch in the autumn to finally photograph it with a beautiful sunrise.
A beautiful sunny day does not easily lend itself to landscape photography, but I had a brainwave, the golden light of sunset ought to create heavy areas of contrast in the mountains and I could get some minimalist images. But when the clouds begin to block out the sun, I had to adapt my plans. ICM photography saved the evening and created some amazing images.
Whenever I go to photograph red grouse, I see these rocky outcrops and hills and I’ve always wondered whether they would be good for landscape photography? Curiosity finally got the better of me and an evening walk was in order. The weather was changing so much that it brought the landscape to life and I had to go handheld to photograph the changing conditions. An excellent day of photography!
A quiet and calming exploration of a forest with several lochs inspired me to try various different landscape photography techniques and styles. Painterly reflections, black and white intimate abstract reflection, ICM photography of the forest, and a classic viewpoint composition. A great day of Landscape Photography!
I decided on the spur of the moment to go wild camping for some landscape photography. On the way, at several points, I questioned whether I should continue as I was being battered by strong gale force winds that had not been predicted. After walking more than 10km I finally made it to destination, but I struggled to pitch my tent and knew that I needed to go home. 22Km in total and not a single photograph!
Daniel talks about the struggles that he has been feeling trying to get the perfect photography, and building pressure on himself to produce the most amazing photos. This feeling of pressure leads to problems being creative and actually enjoying the photography. So he is going to try a new technique for his photography moving forward…
Finally a calm day with no wind or rain, perfect conditions for photographing reflections on a small loch near by in the Cairngorms National Park. Daniel explores a small loch in this vlog episode during which he has to create an HDR image by combining several exposures together in post processing.
Another wet and drizzly morning in the Cairngorms National Park, so Daniel heads to a local waterfall to get some landscape photography. The magnificent waterfall is large and well connected, which means that there are plenty of easily accessible features for some great compositions. A perfect morning for waterfall photography!
A very wet and drizzly morning meant that I went out to the birch woodland near to home to capture some forest photography. It was a surprisingly good morning, I managed to get some great traditional forest photography. As well as experimenting with ICM to create some interesting abstract woodland images.
It's the morning after a terrible day of photography, but this morning goes a lot better. Rising early, I went out in search of the mist for a second morning in a row and I encountered some amazing landscapes that created beautiful images. Swirling mist and colourful skies made for an amazing morning of landscape photography.
Ater a long day on the computer, I went out to photograph some red deer in the quickly vanishing snow. Going to one of my favourite locations I manage to encounter several red deer males with full racks of antlers. I got some images, which I really love and witnessed some mild antler wrestling. A great evening of wildlife photography!
Wondering around the snowy forests of Abernethy led to a great photographic morning. I got some wonderful forest images of the snow and I even did some ICM. The second vlog I filmed, and I couldn’t have asked for more atmospheric conditions.
