Everything is a lie. Trust nothing.

I recently spent a week on the Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland (expect a Best of Scotland post similar to my Best of Norway and Best of Morocco posts soon) where I captured this photo that I’m quite proud of.

I’ve titled it Goodnight, Old Man because it’s of the Old Man of Storr and it’s a nighttime shot.

I’m hysterical. I know.

Thing is though, it’s a lie.

It’s actually a composite photo – two photos combined into one.

We had hiked up to the Old Man of Storr while it was still light out and waited for the sun to set. This was a dumb idea. Turns out, it’s incredible windy up there and it’s a mite cold just standing around waiting for the sun to disappear which, in turn, only makes it colder. Also, in November, the sun sets very very slowly.

But we made it.

The sun did indeed set.

And then I captured this photo.

Which isn’t a bad photo (check out that full moon), but it is super silhouettey which I’m not a huge fan of. I would’ve loved to have some more detail in the shot.

Thankfully, a few minutes before the above shot was taken, I had captured the below, zoomed-in shot of my friend checking out the protruding rock out before he climbed it.

It just needed a little rescaling and a feathered eraser tool.

And then some layering.

And we have a beautiful lie to sell to you.

In retrospect, this shot could’ve been easily captured in one photo by setting up another headlamp at the base of the rock as my friend made the climb with his, but it was cold and I was tired (aka I’m lazy) so I did this instead.

Never trust me again.