Another weekend had arrived, and having had the car exhaust fixed (some welding required) it meant that we were able to head off on a small road trip on the Saturday.
One noticeable point in the weather forecast, both with the Met-Office and on the phone apps, was that there was going to be very little wind during the day - even though the weather itself was likely to be cloudy. Hence potential opportunity therefore to see some loch reflections if the conditions were right.
Our first port of call was Loch Achilty - a location we have visited a number of times in the past years along with plenty of photo records during the seasons. The autumn colours although fading fast through the Highlands were still evident as were some nice reflections that we were hunting for:
After visiting the end of the loch, and letting Willow have a run around and obligatory swim (!) we headed northwards with the aim to reach Loch a Chroisg. This is a long loch where on a few occasions in the past the timing was perfect for amazing reflections - hoping for the same again.
We stopped off en-route in a parking spot beside another loch (Loch a Chuilinn) for a snack and cup of tea from the flask, as well as a grabbing a few photos down by the loch-side … more reflections!
Then onwards we travelled, eventually reaching Loch a Chroisg. Disappointingly (as suspected in some ways having noticed a breeze in the air when we stopped for the break) there was no noticeable reflections on the main water of the loch. So we turned around and headed back - stopping at one point for me to get a photo as below:
There was a tinge of disappointment but on a loch of that size the conditions would have to be perfect to get the sort of reflections I’d seen in the past. But the story was not yet over.
As we travelled back alongside the loch heading south, I saw some potential for a decent photo as there was some evidence of reflections and pulled over to get down to the loch-side to grab the shot:
I thought that was going to be it, but as I turned around I noticed that the loch had suddenly become like a millpond, with not a breath of air noticeable. The reflections I was hoping for had arrived! I ended up staying there for maybe an hour soaking in the views with the camera until it was time to head home, also noticing the north end of the loch was losing the reflections as no doubt a breeze was returning.
With such reflections I couldn’t resist an extreme panoramic during the time there!
And also I had my first attempt at focus stacking. The branch in the photo below was impossible to get within the depth of field needed. I took five photos at different focus points for this photo, stacking them together in Affinity Photo, with what I thought was pleasing result in the end:
All things considered it turned into a great trip out and about - walking away with much better results than I realistically was hoping for - if there had been some sun, it would have been 'perfection’! ;)