The Ochil hills, Stirling

Two stops in one night... I made a mad dash up from Doune to Sheriffmuir and the Ochil hills behind Stirling to try and make the most of the pristine light and dramatic sunset to come. The orange glow as the sun skimmed the horizon was glorious, although it was a shame there were no clouds to catch the light and add some interest to the sky.




A shot like this can prove rather problematic for any camera. The minute the sun enters the frame you have aperature and glare to worry about. To make this image work I set my exposure using a reading to the left (away from the sun) and then panned round to include a little of the brilliant orange light. A little work was needed in Photoshop (dare I say it) to retain some of the sky detail and return the bottom part of the image to its original glory.



The views from the top of the hill were breathtaking and these sheep only added to the moorland atmosphere. Shame I hadn't switched lenses at this point as I'd have liked to have cropped this a bit further.



The sky turned a nice shade of orange and I always like how the light changes in layers as you look into the distance.



It's not quite a Red Deer stag but this makes for a nice shot nonetheless with the mountains in the background and the fading light. It was only a matter of seconds before this sheep scampered off and the effect was gone.