Scotland Wrap-Up

Photo Stop Map

I have been back from Scotland for two weeks now and have finally finished editing all my photos from the trip.  (You can see all the photos here.) Overall, I took 1,748 photos spread across our two week trip, which included 35 photo stops spread amongst the seven towns we stayed in. (see map). Of those 1,748 photos, I edited 736 photos, which is approximately 42 percent.  Now that number could be slightly higher if I did not take/delete duplicates and if I did not take photos to stich into a panorama photo.  Of the 736 photos, I edited my ISO ranged between 100 – 800 ISO with 40 percent taken at 200 ISO.  My aperture varied between F3.5 and F20 with 36 percent of the photos taken at F9.  My shutter speed varied between 1/6 seconds and 1/2000 at the extremes with 12 percent of the photos taken at 1/320 seconds.  However, my shutter speed stayed mostly between 1/100 seconds to 1/800 seconds. Finally, my focal length varied between 18mm and 200mm with 51 percent of the photos taken at 18mm.

Overall, the trip was good, but there were a few things I would change, if I were to do it again.  I would not do Edinburgh again, I feel as though I have covered it.  I think I would just fly into Glasgow and focus on the west coast and the islands of Scotland.  Personally, I wanted to get rocky coast photos with crashing waves.  I would also spend possibly another day in Orkney so I could go over to some of the other islands.  While Skye is nice, it is definitely reach peak tourist capacity, so I would rather head out to the Hebrides, which are a bit wilder and have significantly fewer tourists.  Finally, the major thing I would change is the time of year; I either need to go in early April or late September or October.  The change in date is because in May sunrise is at 4:30 AM and sunset is at 10:30 PM, which do not fit my normal sleep patterns.  While the long days are great to get things done, midday sun does not usually lend itself to interesting skies for landscape photos. 

Below are a few of my favorite photos:

Old Man of Storre on Skye

Standing Stones of Stennis on Orkney

Castle in a loch on way to Skye

I edited a few shots in black in white to get that moody feel. 

Castle ruins in a lock on way to Skye

Old Man of Storre on Skye