5 Days to Honour the Isle of Skye – Day 4: The House Before the Cuillin

Day 4 in honour of the Isle of Skye with a great capture of The House Before the Cuillin.

I invite you to see the Day 1, Day 2, Day3 photographs if you have not yet:

• 5 Days to Honour the Isle of Skye – Day 1: Light on Beinn Edra
• 5 Days to Honour the Isle of Skye – Day 2: The Heart of the Cuith-Raing
• 5 Days to Honour the Isle of Skye – Day 3: The Needle of the Cuith-Raing

This fourth photograph was made last August during one of my photography workshops on the road between the Talisker Distillery and the village of Eynort. We were coming from the Talisker Bay where the light was quite poor for a sunset photograph when we witnessed this very intense light on the Cuillin.

The Cuillin is a range of rocky mountains in the South West of the isle. One speaks of the Black Cuillin, the highest with Sgùrr Alasdair at 992m, and the Red Cuillin much lower. On the slope of the Bruach na Frìthe, the lit peak on the left of the photograph is where the last Scottish clan battle took place between the Clan MacDonald of Sleat and the Clan MacLeod.

This capture was achieved with my Canon 24-105mm at 75mm in a single shot. I used my Lee 105mm polarising filter and a combination of Neutral Density graduated filters to retrieve the sky. I chose to develop it in monochrome to increase the drama in the clouds and isolate the house better. The long focal length enabled me to compress the mountains and reduce the distance between them and the house.

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