I have suffered from terrible wind all night and most of this morning. There is a big cave not so far away and I thought it would be well worth a look today. My reasoning being, that in my limited experience caves aren’t windy. I didn’t really think the matter through. The cave lies about a mile away but the route to it involves crossing the next headland. I could barely stand in the gusts and the dogs faired little better.
This is about as far from Liverpool as one can get so what John Lennon’s connection to Durness is I don’t know. I’ll try and find out.
Geodha Smoo.
Smoo Cave….apparently Smoo comes from the Norse Smuja which means….You Guessed!….Cave.
It was time to start flashing. Now I don’t flash very often. I had to convert this to black and white as the colour was all over the place. I played around a bit more and things got better.
I could have done with getting the Speedlight off the camera but I don’t have any means of supporting it or firing it. Pocket Wizards are the answer but they cost a small fortune……like a fine for flashing. I’ll pop back with a tripod for the camera and just wander about firing the flash manually. That should be better than nothing.
This was a good find. A twenty odd foot waterfall in the bowels of the earth. You can go further but one has to pay four pounds. It’s a boat job and the boat man wasn’t there this morning. It was grand in here…..no wind at all. I’ll pop back.
Have a good week.
Glad you sorted your wind problem Adrian!
ReplyDeleteYou'll probably find that this John Lennon was the local blacksmith or big knob!
So it's called Cave Cave then? (a tautology!!)
Great images...now you've teased us you're going to have to pay the £4 and show us what's at the end!...[;o)
Have you looked at the Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 I use one to remotely fire my two Speedlites. The RRP is around £240 but you should be able to pick one up for less.
Trevor, it's really blowing here today.
DeleteIt's the proper John Lennon he used to come here on holiday and once had a car crash.
Yes Cave Cave.
I'll find out when the man with the boat works.
Yes I've thought about them but they use IR which means you can't hide them behind things. There are several Pocket Wizards second hand. I'll have a look around. Cheapest would be to get the old fashioned set up with a PC cable.
Wind and flashing; good to see you are reaching my level.
ReplyDeleteLove that second shot.
Keith, I got about as low as I could today.
DeleteThis is a beautiful place. The crop-factor Canon cameras all have a pop-up flash which now acts as a master wireless transmitter to fire slave units. I've already used it; what I'm still trying to figure out is if there's a way to inhibit the small camera's flash from firing so that way it would just work as a radio popper or pocket wizard, but apparently the small pop-up flash does have to inevitably fire to also fire the slave units.
ReplyDeleteMaria, I thought that the on camera flash triggered slave flashes by light not radio. I'll look into it as I have a ring flash which would make little difference to the image and would fire a slave or two.
DeleteLife does get complicated.
Yep, you're right; the pop-up flash can't emit infra-red pulses to fire the external flash. It apparently does emit some IR light, but it's visible, unlike infrared via LED. However, you can set the camera to control the external slave units using a low power pre-flash setting (from the pop-up) to communicate with the external speedlites. This low power pre-flash then triggers the slave unit and it doesn't affect your exposure. But you will always see the pop-up flash firing a light, either as a pre-flash, or a go-along flash with the whole exposure.
DeleteBut check compatibility issues. If I'm not mistaken, this wireless pop-up flash triggering is fairly new and came out with newer Rebel, 60D's, and 7D's models. I don't know that just any flashing light will trigger those slave units.
DeleteMaria, the Pocket Wizards work on a radio signal. They have compatibility issues with certain Speedlights. It's a radio noise issue. The price they are I would expect them to shield both the flash and the transceiver. Probably nothing that a bit of tin foil won't solve.
DeleteJe hebt wel een hele mooie plek gevonden daar zal ik zeker naar terug gaan om hem eens verder te bekijken.
ReplyDeleteIk denk dat het de moeite waard te betalen voor het bezoek.
DeleteHI Adrian What a fascinating place and cave. Well, I hope you fork out the£4 for the boat trip and I (for one)want to see further into the cave. Yes I wondered also about why John Lennon so this is what I found.( see below)
ReplyDeleteIt is little known that the most famous Beatle the late John Lennon shared his boyhood holidays with cousins at Sangomore Durness. Stan, John's cousin spent ten years of his adult life in Durness until 1985 and told many tales about the life of John Lennon. There are people living in Durness who remember playing with the young John Lennon when he visited on holiday.
Great post and shots. Margaret
Margaret, the trips run infrequently as it floods badly in rain and in strong southerly winds. Your comment posted properly this time.
DeleteThanks for the John Lennon information. I'll take some pictures of the old military buildings here. People are using them for alsorts of weird and wonderful things.
thanks for following through on Adrian's pondering about Lennon, Margaret! lovely images of the waterfall, Adrian.
ReplyDeleteNorma, they could be better. A warm up gel wouldn't have gone amiss. I'm not a very accomplished flasher.
DeleteThanks for taking me with you on your amazing travels, Mr.A ... and thanks for visiting my blog earlier ... you are the best ... woofs and love for you and the doggies :) Always, cat.
ReplyDeleteCheers and thanks Cat.
DeleteI've got terrible wind here too Adrian. Must be endemic in the Scottish Northlands. I'm glad that you don't get wind in caves. It could be a tad unpleasant. I'm looking forward to more of your Durness photos because it's a long long time since I was there and thereabouts.
ReplyDeleteGraham, it's a big cave.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful place. I'm here for at least another two weeks. Longer if i don't blot my copy book.
Well if having a car crash gets you a memorial there will plenty placed when I pass away:) Great images as always.
ReplyDeleteDouglas, I think his car crash was on the East coast somewhere. He was going on his holidays when he crashed.
ReplyDeleteYou had me worried when you said you had to start flashing and you hadn't done it for a while. By that time I caught on that it had something to do with photography. Anyway interesting cave.
ReplyDeleteRed, my last big flash was ages ago. There is much of interest round here but the weather is not very settled. It will settle to gales and driving rain in a month or so.
DeleteSeems like you've found a great place for exploring. Don't get lost in the cave. And hold on to the dogs...
ReplyDeleteMonica, school holidays have started here but no worries I'm usually back before or the kids are awake.
DeleteSuper photos of a super place, thanks Adrian
ReplyDelete"I have suffered from terrible wind all night" - have you tried "Tums" - they are calcium carbonate based with a fruit flavour and usually sort my wind problems out!!!!
John, I just start to think I'm getting to grips with this snapping lark and then flashing pops up or slides on in my case. I would like to learn to use flash properly. It's a black art which though cheap to set up for does mean carrying yet more stuff around. There is much to be said for your approach.
DeleteI woke at three and had a glass of Andrews. It's flat calm here now. Thanks for the tip.
Weird how a word can distract. I can't see the word innuenda without thinking of the example - "The big knobs in advertising use innuendo all the time." Maybe the big knobs in photography do too. I look forward to more photos of the Smoo (that's another great word).
ReplyDeletePauline, They probably do. I wouldn't know, I was well down the queue when the good lord was handing out flashing equipment.
DeleteWhat a grand cave you've taken, and John Lennon.............
ReplyDeleteSorry you had wind, best place to go, caves.
Bob, I do get claustrophobia but love what I see underground I'm trying to get some flash gels before I spend a fortune on the boat trip. The trapped feeling I get got rid of the wind.
DeleteSome nice images there Adrian. Liking the subtle HDR and the black&White. I am slowly going to convert you over to the mono side !!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is an e-mail from Shaun at VALLEYS SHUTTERBUG
Ta Shaun, Blogger acting up a bit but it's entitled to...it's free.
DeleteI like B&W but like colour. I Photoshop like hell but to me it's only a pastime.
I have ordered a S/H Pocket Wizard. Does that company you promote do a compact stand for strobes? Gels are cheap enough. Do they do shoot through umbrellas or a mountable soft box? I'm getting fed up with HDR. I'm going for flash filled landscapes now.
Looks a great place to explore, flashing or not.
ReplyDeleteIt's best to share John so flashing it has to be.
ReplyDelete