Scotland 2019 – Falls of Falloch

Another location from 2018 I wanted to revisit during our Scotland 2019 trip were the Falls of Falloch. The Falls of Falloch are located at the northern end of Loch Lomond on the river Falloch which flows into the loch. The car park is located just a few miles south of Crianlarich on the A82. There are limited spaces, so if you go in the middle of the day when the weather is good, be prepared to wait a while to get a space.

The Falls of Falloch are just a short walk (around 300m) from the car park and the track is well made, although it can be muddy if there has been any rain. There is a viewing platform at the end of the track giving a good view of the main cascade, and there are several other areas where you can get a good view of the fall, the area downstream. You can also get across to the other side of the river to get an alternate view of the falls.

On this visit, I wasn’t looking for unique compositions, I was just looking to capture a good image of the main fall as I was disappointed with my results from the last trip. I also didn’t have as much time as I would’ve liked. There isn’t much else to do around the falls and Kay and the poochies get bored quite quickly. I did manage to get a few images I was happy with, including the one above and the two shown below.

Looking back at the rest of the images I took at the Falls of Falloch; I did learn an important lesson. While setting up my shots, I was so preoccupied with composition and shutter speed to ensure I got the nice silky water effect I was looking for that I forgot to check the rest of the frame. The resulting images looked fine on the back of the camera but when reviewing them on a bigger screen I could see that while the waterfall and the rocks were sharp, but the surrounding trees were not. There had been a breeze blowing the surrounding trees and the longer shutter speed had resulted in some blurring of the leaves and branches.

Had I noticed at the time; this would have been a fairly simple problem to solve. The easiest way would have been to take two exposures, one quick enough to freeze the movement in the trees and a slightly longer one to give the required blue in the water. Blending them in Photoshop is a quick and uncomplicated process, although not one that I’m well-practiced in.

As they say, every day is a school day, and this is something I need to remember in future. Having said that, I’m happier with my images from this trip, and as I said earlier, the opportunities for different compositions are quite limited in this location.

Thank for stopping by, and if I can help one person to avoid the mistake I made then it’s been worthwhile.

Have a good one.

Andy's Signature