Discovering a barrel of photos at Dunphail distillery
On grabbing my camera bag and getting into the car my intention was to take photographs of lichen loaded trees and moss covered drystone dykes. I wanted a photograph of the layout of a crumbling dyke as a visual referance of the colours of moss and lychen for a for a future project.
I knew of a local spot where there were trees and dykes that had the ingredients for my shoot, travelling along the country road I eventually spotted a dyke that was ideal for purpose.
The issue was finding a parking place as I was on a single track road with only passing places, keeping the speed down I came across Dunphail Distillery.
Feeling a bit guilty of never noticing the complex before as it is an impressive sight curiosity got the better of me. I parked up, grabbed my camera and headed for a gentleman who I asked if it was OK to park and wander around to take some photographs. He kindly agreed and if I could give him 10 minutes he would find me as I wandered around the complex and give me a quick tour of the complex.
Stacked Hogsheads photograph: Camera: Fujifilm X-H1. Lens XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR. Exposure: 1/250s. ISO: 640. Focal length: 36.5mm. Aperture: f/4
Stacked Hogsheads
I shot the photograph in RAW and processed using Affinity Photo. I then used Color Efex Pro in the Nik Collection making adjustments in the colour contrast range slider then a few tweaks in the pro contrast slider.
Whisky is matured in used barrels often called hogsheads when bourbon has been contained in the barrel. This maturing process gives the whisky it’s flavour and colour.
Oak Casks Reflected
Oak Casks Reflected photograph: Camera: Fujifilm X-H1. Lens XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR. Exposure: 1/125s. ISO:200. Focal length: 53.5mm. Aperture: f/4
There had been a heavy rainfall during the night and several of the casks had retained the rain water over the lids. I positioned my camera so that the lens was sitting on the barrel rim and took the shot.
I processed this photograph using Luminar Neo processing the RAW image which I cropped to give the letterbox look and in the develop section I made a few tweaks then added a LUT to warm up the look of the image.
Whirlwind Tour of the Distillery
During my photographing the barrels at the rear of the building my volunteer tour guide found and let me know he had five minutes available before his presence was required, no doubt in more important matters.
Although brief it was fascinating and the whisky stills were crying out to be photographed. The gleeming copper with light reflecting was a joy to see.
With restricted room and no time to ponder on composition I clicked off several shots in the hope I could salvage at least one photograph when I got back home to the computer.
Looking at these photographs makes me wonder. In over a decade who will raise a glass of this fine whisky.
What will the occassion be, a calming solitarty drink, socialising with friends, sealing a hard fought business deal or perhaps a celebration gathering.
What location will they enjoy a glass of the ‘water of life’, will it be localy or some faraway destination.
To me this is one of the joys of photography, it captures not only the scene before you, it prompts your imagination to look into the deeper story of the subject.
Whisky Stills photograph: Camera: Fujifilm X-H1. Lens XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR. Exposure: 1/5s. ISO:200. Focal length: 31.3mm. Aperture: f/5
Cropped image of the Whisky Stills
To achieve the above photo I cropped the original RAW file in Affinity Photo then sent it to the develop persona where I duplicated the image. Now having two images I took one and used the gaussian blur filter to blur the background.
Once that was acheived I placed the blurred image over the initial image. Adding a mask allowed me to paint in the parts I wanted to show from the underlying image. This meant I had eliminated the details of the unattractive background and highlighted both stills.
Having severely cropped the image meant the photograph was now too small to send to print. Using Topaz Gigapixel AI which is amazing the photo doubled in size and was flawless.
The distillery is a definite put on your ‘must do’ list. It’s a pleasant drive through the Moray countryside along a winding country single track road that takes you through a variety of scenery. The distillery has a visitor centre where you can sample this unique single malt whisky, purchase gifts and learn all about the past techniques in whisky making.