The Sean O'Casey Bridge, Dublin

(6secs, f/8, 31mm, ISO-100, 18/2/2008)

 

 

I was sitting here, working on this photograph whilst finally getting some progress with my Unbuntu backup server. I'd finally got the thing to see my main pc, I'd even reconfigured some things to make general computer fun more, well.... fun.

...and then...

The disk in the Ubuntu box eats itself.

Yup. The backup server I'm building to backup my photographs, my documents, my saved games! It's eaten itself. Not quite smoke and a three fire engine call out, but still pretty annoying.

Come to think of it. This photograph was the last one I took before I broke my tripod. Coincidence???

 

... yeah probably.

The Custom House in Dublin, constructed in 1781, situated on the banks on the Liffey. Probably one of the nicest buildings in Dublin. And it's even on the north side...

(2.5 secs, F/8, 18mm, ISO-100, 18/2/08)

I quite like this picture. Of the half dozen or so I tried of this building, I think this is about as close as I got to a decent shot. Fitting the building in was a challenge for the 18mm end of my lens and what's not shown here is the aggressive crop to remove the railings and footpath on my side of the river (I had to stand quite far back). As with all my shots recently, there has been some white balance adjustment.

One of the problems with this building is the non-uniform light along the front. Whilst it gives it some feature, it's a git to give a level exposure as a result. In any of the shots I took where the dark areas were properly exposed, the bright areas were totally blown. I know I could have taken two shots and pasted them together, but I decided against it for now*

The other shot of the building worth showing is this one...

(15 secs, F/11, 18mm, ISO-100, 18/2/08)

But, I reckon Dermot got a cleaner sharper version.

 

 

 

*Though it may appear in the future when I get some experience with that sort of activity in Photoshop/GIMP...

 

"...best"?

"...worst"?

"...last person to read this"?

"... biggest muppet on the planet for taking this photo"?

It was all going so well.
And then there was a clunk...

I'm beginning to think Dermot is a jinx on my camera equipment. When we went out at Christmas, we were no more than 30 minutes into our shoot when my memory card ate itself. This time, we got about an hour before my tripod self destructed.

In fairness, I think it had been coming for a while. I'd noticed the centre column wasn't quite as secure as it used to be and that the adjustment pin was either too tight or too loose, but never just right.

Anyway, it all went bang. I cried (a little).

And I've bought a new one.

Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod Legs Only - Black

It's very pretty. I'll do a full review when I get out and about with it.

Monday night saw me back on the mean streets of Dublin with the master of understatement (but over exposure) himself, Dermot Greene. After a decent bout of pastamongery, we hit the streets and worked over the lower banks of The Liffey.

I'll be posting shots from that wander over the next few days.

I thought I'd start with the most emotive of the pictures I took that night.

Just beside the financial district (the IFSC?) in Dublin there are a series of statues remembering the Potato famine of the mid 19th centaury.  I'd seen these statues many times while passing through Dublin and only ever considered them as slightly odd, maybe even a little eerie. I'd never really looked at them by night though.

What I found was probably the first piece of art that ever moved me emotionally. The gaunt, weather beaten look and the faces carved in expressions of desperation really do emphasise the horror of the times. I'm not going to try to describe the famine and its effects on Ireland, it's not that sort of blog. If you want to know more, read this. Suffice to say, if you ever end up in Dublin then take a look at this work and consider for a minute just what it must have been like.

I hope these shots convey something of the place.

   

     

(I haven't given the settings for these as individual shots, they're all around F/8 and between 8 and 10 seconds. In an effort to get the colouring, white balance was set to Tungsten - they really are this sort of colour in real life)

Dermot and I have an ongoing discussion about the merits and flaws of exposure in night shots. He stands, a bastion of light and brightness. I stand... well, I stand much closer to the dark. I genuinely think this might be one of those times when the shadows make the pictures. You can read Dermot's account of the statues here.

It's been 5 months since I started this adventure. It's been a fun 5 months.

One thing I've noticed though, is the willingness of other photographers to help, give advice and share tips. Whether it's been the guys in Belfast, Geoff with the blog space or Dermot in Dublin, every single person has stepped up when asked or volunteered when they've seen me struggle. I thought I should take a moment and say thanks.

So, thanks.

Today was another example of the willingness of photographers to help. John (a friend of a friend) was shown my blog through the week and contacted me by email to give me his number for a chat. I gave him a call and spent an excellent hour or more chatting through the basics of photography, with him giving me lots of tips and advice based on the things I'd posted so far. His experience was obvious in the stuff of his I've seen and I look forward to trying out a lot of the things he suggested. The conversation has left me thinking I need to get involved in this hobby at a more social level, not just in books and the occasional walkabout.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you've stumbled across this blog and have some comments, please make them. I'm pretty new to this stuff and I'm keen to try and learn as much as I can.

Anyway...

On another note, with the Christmas festivities round the corner, I wanted to close off the Dublin walkabout pictures with a few more of my favourites.

In no particular order.

The Lights Under Ha'Penny Bridge

(2.5secs, f/8, focal length - 96mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 21:38)

O'Connell Bridge Ornament

(0.8secs, f/1.8, focal length - 50mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 21:27)

The Liffey Upstream

(10secs, f/8, focal length - 18mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 21:23)

(Turns out my over use of f/8 is probably a bad thing. I did know the depth of field effect of larger and smaller apertures, but had really only been applying it in shots like the bridge ornament above to educe the background visibility. Expect to see more use of aperture ranges for landscapes going forward).

I took this shot while wandering through Grafton Street with Dermot last week.

Nothing really to detailed to say about it. It suffered from the tilted tripod problem and the white balance issues I posted about before, but I liked the blurred crowds.

I straightened the image and tweaked the white balance a little. I have a feeling the image straightening is what's given the building on the right that odd tilt. That's just a little frustrating.

Nothing says Christmas like panicking shoppers....

...which reminds me, I should really go and buy some Christmas presents...

 

(5secs, f/20, focal length - 31mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 20:35)

Oh, for those of you who might be interesting, I'm going to try and get out to shoot the Belfast Christmas frenzy on Friday 21st. Same drill as last time, no real leadership just meet and wander and see what we find. Let me know if you're interested.

I mentioned Dermot's tirade on the evils of post processing last night. Well in an effort to appease him during the Dublin walkabout I started playing with white balance a little. I've shown some of this before back during the Belfast walk around, but I don't think I ever got beyond the 'Look - Post Processing...cool' part.

Now, what I know about white balance would probably fit on a postage stamp, but since I don't have one handy I'll put it all here (and use a font you can read...(bot not comic sans, Geoff gets cross about that)) (look double closing brackets - I used to be able to program computers once!).

Anyway, white balance....

White Balance dates back to the days of film and it's something most of us never encountered as we bought rolls of film from petrol stations, newsagents and the like. The reason being, like ISO, it was the preserve of the 'proper' photographer and people like me who had a point and click camera were given by default (and probably rightly so) a generic white balance mode. 'Proper' photographers would buy rolls for indoor shooting, studio shooting, outdoors etc or use filters and such to change the cast (shade to us Neanderthals) of the light.

It's all to do with physics and different temperatures having different light emission properties...insert physics text here cunningly disguised as a link to wikipedia...

So, as you can see from the wikipedia link a candle would have quite an orange cast (because its not that hot), while a tungsten light will be much more blue (because in light terms its roasting).

... OK, physics (or my attempt at it) over. Basically the film guys had it tough and people like me with digital cameras have it easier. The camera sensor (CCD?) allows the user to decide in advance of each shot what sort of light it is and then make a decision. Fortunately for total amateurs like me, the camera also has an auto setting which looks at the conditions and picks a non-offensive white balance to use.

As Geoff pointed out in the response to some of the Belfast photography stuff the formula the camera uses may be different than another camera or a post processing package. And I guess, that's what Dermot was showing me as well. Sometimes changing it at the point of shooting will give you the best chance of getting the colour and emotion you desire.

Here, take a look at these two pictures of nubile young women* to see what I mean. They're both unedited from the original captures.

First the auto white balance...

Now with the camera set to shade...

(1/4sec, f/8, focal length - 31mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 21:45)

In the first picture the camera set the white balance, but in the second I chose shade (which according to my Canon is around a colour temperature of 7000K). Now, the first picture probably gives a much cleaner whiter feel, but the second picture helps (at least to my mind) add a seductive (ooooh look at you) charm and warmth to the images. It depends what you're after I guess.

My point (oh lord there was a point! Physics and a point in the same post, lord help us), is that sometimes its fun to play with camera settings and that things light white balance can be as much fun to play with when taking the photo as in graphics packages later.

If you're into this sort of stuff, it's probably worth reading Geoff's comment as he does give some good insights into it. Hell, I could have just re-posted his stuff here, but I needed to phrase it in my own words to let it sink in.

 

 

 

*Bet that generates a few hits from Google....

Nope, not the latest instalment of 'Vampire the SomethingorOther', but the next set of pictures I'll try to post over the weekend.

I'm in Dublin a lot at the moment and managed to get out last night with Camera and (more wonky than I realised) tripod. I was lucky enough to be joined by Dermot Greene, a mate, work colleague and general photography nice bloke who's just joined the digital dark side with a Nikon D80.

Dermot's been taking photo's for many years at this point and, as well as being a Dubliner by choice, was on hand to take me on a tour of Grafton Street, The Liffey and keep me safe from the odd little drunks who wanted us to "Hey mate, take our picture". You can see Dermot's work in both his website and his blog and all I ask is that you make 'ooooh' and 'aaaaah' noises, then remember that I'm still learning.

I picked up some good tips last night and it's definitely secured the social aspect of photography in my mind. I'll work through some of what I saw and learned in the next few posts. Suffice to say, Dermot's mantra of "Over expose by 2 stops" and "Post processing is work of the devil"* will feature heavily.

Anyway, like I said, photo will follow. For now, have come Grattan, wife says he was some political bloke she used words and dates... but I just take photos.

(15 secs, f/8, focal length - 18mm, ISO - 100, 11/12/07 20:59)

 

* Dermot probably didn't phrase it quite like this, probably more along the lines of "I prefer to get the picture right using the camera, not post processing software", but I felt some artistic license was allowed. And besides, I heard words like devil would up my google search results!