Tarbet Isle

I spotted Tarbet Isle off the coast of Loch Lomond whilst driving from Sloy to Shira. At only 40m long and 60m offshore its collection of trees resembles a perfect bonsai scene. (Or a perfect bonsai scene resembles it??) I settled in for a long night to try my hand at lighting up the island.  I don’t want to give too much away but it took an 800W tungsten lamp and more than a few hundred Elinchrom flashes. After a few hours of testing on digital I committed to shooting on 5×4.  The finished image above is the only negative where focusing, foreground and background lighting came together with no retouching needed.

~ by Toby Smith on March 25, 2010.