Chanory Point Lighthouse.

It was a blisteringly hot morning when we set off to Fortrose. The conditions weren't the best for photography. The sun was splitting the sky and there was not a cloud in sight. When we arrived we were met with the sight of hundreds of people all crowding the beach waiting for a sighting of the Moray Firth dolphins. Chanory point is an excellent place to see them and they did put in an appearance but unfortunately, they were not in a very playful mood so the most we saw was them breaking the surface of the water.



Once the crowds had left I had time to set up without any distractions. Because of the intensity of the sun it was quite difficult to get an overall exposure that retained detail in the white parts of the lighthouse. In the end I underexposed by a stop and shot the scene using a polariser.

I used my 17-40mm set at around 20mm for the shot but the one downside to this is, when coupled with a polariser at extreme wide angles the sky doesn't polarise evenly. You can see that parts of the sky are darker than others but there is not a lot that can be done apart from zooming in on the scene so the angle of view reduces.

This is a location I've bookmarked for a return trip during winter when there is snow on the ground. All I need to do is make sure I get there before the dolphin spotters.

Details: 1ds mk3, 17-40mm, tripod, polariser.