Bride’s Veil Falls, Scotland

Bride’s Veil Falls (sometimes called Bride Veil Falls or even Bridal Veil Falls) is located on the Isle of Skye in the Highlands of Scotland, not too far from the town of Portree and just south of the famous Old Man of Storr. It was one of the locations that I had scouted virtually in the months leading up to my 3-week visit to Scotland that I thought might make a good subject for an ultra-high-resolution photo. It is also a popular tourist stop, so I knew my only opportunities to capture it would be in the early morning or evening.

Scotland means quickly changing weather, and changing weather is the enemy when creating ultra-high-resolution photos. But besides the usual challenges in avoiding changing light while capturing the thousands of images needed, this particular location provided challenges with rain and wind as well.

My first attempt needed to be called off after about 30 minutes of shooting. It started to rain, and then the wind suddenly came up severely, causing all the foliage, and even my tripod, to sway with every gust. I packed it in and decided to return another day.

The weather forecast for the next morning looked promising with a prediction of good quality soft overcast light (bright sunlight would not work for this scene) but with little chance of rain and only moderate wind. So, I returned again early the next morning and captured all the images needed to assemble this photo. There were light wind gusts at times, but for the most part, those only affected the lightweight ferns that grew amongst the heather that surrounded the falls. Using a slow shutter speed to capture the water streaming down the hillside rendered the beautiful veils of water, which gives the falls their name.

Photo Information: A very high-resolution photograph taken of Brides Veil Waterfall, which resides in the Isle of Skye near Portree in the Inverness-shire, Scotland

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