All these images were taken by Colin Woolf, at Machir Bay on Islay.  

The camera was a Nikon D300, with a range of lenses:

Pic 1:    24-70 mm lens,   1/6400 sec at  f8

Pic 2:   70-200 mm lens,   1/8000 sec at f8

Pic 3:   70-200 mm lens,    1/8000 sec at f8

Pic 4:   70-200 mm lens,    1/6400 sec at f8

Colin says:

“The benefit of a good quality camera and lens is evident in the finer points such as the subtleties of tone in the distance – in the fourth image, spray from the breakers is drifting across the sand dunes and cliffs, and you can still make out the details in the landscape behind it.  When tackling contrasting lighting conditions with the potential for over- or under-exposure, you need to decide which part of the scene is most important, and expose for that.  

“Exposure is always a matter of personal opinion, and there is no right and wrong!  You have to remember that the eye is able to differentiate between so many levels of brightness and darkness, but the camera can only capture a small slice of that – so it’s a question of where you put that slice in the wide range of lighting conditions, to get the effect that you want.”  

Machir Bay is on the west coast of Islay, facing the storms and breakers straight from the Atlantic.  The sunken relics that you can see in the sand are the remains of an old, unidentified shipwreck.

All images copyright © Colin Woolf