I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. There are lots of good reasons to be in a photography club.

Possibly one of the best is the chance to get places you might not otherwise have access to.

Yesterday we headed to Killyleagh Regatta in Strangford Lough. The club organised a boat with a local pilot (no idea why they’re called pilots, but they’re called pilots) who knew the race really well. He was able to put us into the middle of the action over and over again, knowing exactly where we should be and when it was time to get out of the way.

Something well worth experiencing, and a great day out with camera folks of a like mind.

The weather was a little sucky, but, well…

Rumours I took over 750 photographs are exaggerated…. a little.

I may never finish sorting through them

I’m in danger of becoming a sunset addict…

… and that’s dangerous in a country where nice fixes are few and far between.

I’m playing with a new add on for Photoshop (Well, new to me anyway).

I’ll put a write up about my thoughts with it later in the week, but I wanted to throw up an image now so I could look at it in the cold light of day and see what I think.

Sometimes with these things I can get a little target blind, seeing only what I want to see, not the actual picture as a whole. It’s good to reflect a little.

Anyway, this picture was originally taken in December 2007. It’s always been on my pile of “I wish it was better…”, it seemed like a good sample image for the new utility.

One of my favourite hobbies these days is reviewing pictures I took a few weeks earlier to see if anything jumps out or if some new technique I learned about suddenly gives me a way to improve on something.

This photograph, taken a week or two ago at the tall ships didn’t really say much to me then, though I do quite like the fact it shows the modern shipyards through the rigging of the older boats bow.

I was just playing with some HDR stuff and suddenly it seems to get a nice life to it.

OK, so the pictures for the Peoples Photography exhibition are picked and sent to the lab, the mounts are ordered and apart from a night of framing I’m all sorted. Sort of…

Time to actually “take photographs” again.

More beaches. More sunset. More…

I’m suspicious my monitor is set too dark based on some of these images I’ve been looking at on other pc’s. Plans are afoot to check this, so bear with me.

I’ve been sitting on this picture for a while now. I knew I wanted to try and process it through HDR – even when taking it I took three exposures to give me the capacity.

I find shooting into a sunset like this incredibly difficult. The last rays of the sun either cause the shot to under-expose or leave the sky a horrid washed out white mess. Taking this as three exposures allowed me to find the best of each world, and whilst I normally wouldn’t go this extreme with HDR, I do like the finished result quite a bit.

The last three pictures I’ve posted have been processed in HDR and I think this is my favourite. It does give images a nice feel, although I’ll be the first to admit they do drift away from “what the eye saw”.

It’s typical that now the competition season is over in the club, I start producing pictures I’d like to use. Still, there’s always next year.

It’s absolutely amazing the difference 10 minutes can make. 10 minutes earlier and the sun would have been much nicer.

Mind you 10 minutes before that it was chucking it down.

And 10 minutes after I took this it was pitch black and chucking it down.

The Irish Marine Institute, Galway Bay.

I am in pain. Not the sort of pain you get from a hard days night. More the sort of pain you get when you haul your old, overweight, carcass around something like 18 kilometres of mountains which only seem to go up! Added to that, this carcass stupidly decided to haul camera, lenses and tripod with him.

So, and let me make this abundantly clear, I am only typing this through the magic of ibuprofen. If it gets a little woozy, just ignore me...

I'd never been into the Mourne Mountains before, apart from a few trips as a child to the more accessible parks and places. Not having the first clue about hill safety or map reading or where to go while up there I never considered it an option really.

Thanks to Dean at Ulster Rambles  I was able to organise a day trip which took 6 of us up into the mountains yesterday. Deans expert guidance and knowledge of the area meant we all got a good challenging walk and lots of interesting asides and explanations. He also got us to climb Slievenaglogh for a view which was to die for. (I'd even say he organised perfect weather for us, but I'm claiming credit for that...).

I'm working through my 200 and something photos now, but in the meantime, here's a shot of the Mourne Wall.

(f/8, 1/200sec, 22mm, ISO-400, 27/09/08)

I'd spent a lot of time before this considering what to carry. given the weight of my camera kit these days, I knew it was unrealistic to take it all plus the waterproofs we wouldn't need. So, I quickly rationalised it down to two lenses - my 10-22 and my 55-250. I figured this covered off all the likely focal lengths I'd want. Also, after much debate, I took my tripod.

Weight was a major issue for me the entire day, but surprisingly the tripod and backpack wasn't the worst of it. Actually having the camera around my neck for 8 hours was the biggest issue. It was much more awkward to put the camera away than just carry it, but by the end of the day my neck was throbbing. (Thanks to Jon who carried it for me for the last part of the day).

As I climbed along the Mourne wall up Slievenaglogh  I'd really considered the sensibility of bringing the tripod. But, sometimes the experts are right. If you're going to take landscape photographs it's such a valuable addition to your kit bag.

In fact, the only part of my kit that failed me yesterday was my...erm...my trousers... Yep, my trousers. I'd love to say I ripped them in some sort of rugged "wrestling a mountain bear" type story, but no. I ripped the crotch clean out of them by lifting my leg to high to climb up onto a stone. By the time I got to the top of Slievenaglogh  I was getting a little too close to nature and the split rang from zipper to beyond my right knee. If ever Geoff needed to secure a place in heaven, he did it when he produced a spare pair of shorts.

So, would I do it again?

Yes. In a second.

I know people who walk in the Mournes a lot and I know people often go up there without guides (or even proper shoes). But for me, having Dean lead the party meant there was never pressure of checking where we were, keeping an eye on the time, fearing being left behind or even worry about a fall (and I had a couple). Walking off path, through heathers and bogs and over (OK, through) rivers was brilliant. I'd recommend using his services in a second. In fact I'm already planning a return trip where hopefully he'll take some of us up for some sunset photography.

And from a photo point of view. The sky was actually more blue than that picture shows. I actually de-saturated the blue a little to make it more believable.

Another HDR shot from a week or so ago.

Nothing major to say about this, except that trying to keep orange life rings from glowing when making an HDR image is a pain in the...

I'm not sure exactly what they're for - I'd suspect Shrimp, but since that season isn't until August, they may be for Green Crab or some other local shellfish. Either way, I liked the semi-uniformity of the two stacks.

 

I thought I'd also post the unedited picture (below). I think this might be a case of a photoshop too far, but I'm trying to find the vibrancy and richness other people manage, both through the lens and in the post edit stage. It's worth looking at photographs by Oswegan, Dynamic Perceptions, etc for good examples of rich, powerful images which don't feel over processed (if they've been post processed at all - I honestly have no way of telling!)

 

While retracing my steps on the beach that night, I came across this.

(F/8, 3.2sec, 22mm, ISO-100, 03/05/08)

 

Now, only one of those sets belonged to me. So, who exactly followed me out?

(Yes Dermot, I know it's very dark - I like dark!)

The settings quoted above are a little misleading. I did a reasonable amount of photoshoping on this, specifically I used sharpen masks and some curve changes to push intensify the colours. Interestingly, I was playing with the application mode for the layers - I'd tended to leave it on normal in the past.This picture makes use of the multiply mode, merging two duplicate layers and (I guess) multiplying the colours together for a result. The "soft light" option also seemed interesting, but I decided I preferred this more sinister version. A heavy crop to change the image from landscape to portrait finished it off and got rid of the empty spaces down each flank.

I'd kind of stopped post processing outside of Lightroom and forays into HDRville over the last few weeks, but I picked up some fantastic tutorials on photoshop today and they've got me all inspired again. I'll post some details about them later.

Long exposures can give some interesting and completely unexpected results.

On Saturday night I was on one of the beaches in Cloughglass and to be honest should probably have packed up and gone home instead of trying to take one more picture (final image count for the weekend was 290 pictures by the way).

By the time I took the following, it was well into dark and the nice red twilight was pretty much gone. In an effort to get some light into the camera, a 5 second shutter speed was required. The side effect of this was that the waves and the boat have a nice ethereal blur about them.

At least, I think so.

 

(f/14, 5secs, 22mm, ISO-100, 03/05/2008)

 

To my mind it gets even nicer when you see the resultant HDR - Yes I had auto exposure bracketing on and couldn't help myself.

Oh, it's been cropped a little as the horizon wasn't in a great spot in the original.

I like the intensity of the colours more here. Yeah it's probably lost some of its natural hues, but the sky and the colours just seem more.... well more.

I tried a third version of this. Just because I was messing and could.

This time I used the overexposed image in the exposure bracket and let the HDR software work from there. Just using a single image.

I'm not keen on the burned out white in the sky and if I didn't have 300 images to play with I might spend a little time trying to clean it up. but I really do like the sand and the boat motion so thought I would share.

Just along the coast from The Giants Causeway is the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Originally built by fishermen to allow them to check their Salmon nets, these days it's a good walk and 5 minutes of terror.

To be fair, it's probably less likely to collapse than any of the millennium foot bridges that do that horrible bouncy thing when people walk on them. That said, when you're in the middle of it, you tend to forget the giant steel pins and metal cables holding it in place.

And as it bounces, I dare you not to hum the Indiana Jones theme music.

(F5.6. 1/200, 55mm ISO-100, 12/04/08)

(Yes - another of those shutter speed shots....)

By the time I got taking this picture I'd once again fallen foul of dirt in the camera. This time, it was on the mirror rather than the lens. A good blast with the Rocket Air Blower sorted it out when I got home. I've been trying to work out a better way to change lenses. One which doesn't involve carrying a sterile tent. So far, best I can come up with is:

• Change lenses somewhere sheltered (no wind or rain or sea spray)
• Change them efficiently (not quickly - you risk dropping them, but don't stand chatting as you do it)
• Have the right lens caps to hand for the job (remember Canon cameras take both EF and EF-S lenses, one size might not fit all)
• Try to hold the body pointing down (dirt tends not to fall up)
• Accept that it's part of life and will happen sooner or later.

Failing that, you could always carry two or more bodies. I mean, if Canon are reading and want me to try that option all they have to do is ask..... Hello?....Hello, anybody there?

Ah well, worth a try.

...Golfers have caddies

If you've been to The Giants Causeway, then you'll know that it's a fair old hike down from the visitors centre to the causeway itself. More importantly, it's a fair old hike back UP again.

Intrepid explorers that we were, we walked it rather than take the little flexi-bus thing they have.

Muppet that I was, I took my tripod.

I'm currently using a Slingshot 100AW bag and I do really like it, but it's a little small and doesn't have any way of securing a tripod. As a result I had to carry the thing in one hand the entire way round the causeway. MY rationale for taking it was that I was taking landscape shots and might try some HDR stuff. The reality was that it was so bright shutter speeds were never an issue and I've no idea how to HDR an ocean...

So if you're out and about, think long and hard about the kit you take. Or bring a caddie and let them struggle with the extra gear....

(F/5.6, 1/200sec, 10mm, ISO-100, 12/04/08)

For Dermot, I'm sure it felt like a week of travel to get from Dublin to the North Coast via the vagaries of Irish Rail and my driving. It's kind of apt that it's taken me as long to get around to posting a picture of the place.

Anyway,

The Giants Causeway.

(F/14, 1/20sec, 22mm, ISO-100, 12/04/08, Polarising Filter Used)

The Giants Causeway, possibly the biggest attraction in Northern Ireland and one of a number of features of the North Coast worth taking a day to visit. Formed from Volcanic Rock undergoing rapid cooling  or by Finn MacCool because he wanted to pick a fight with his neighbour in Scotland.

I prefer the second explanation.

This was the first time I encountered 'tourists' while taking pictures. During outings to Belfast and Dublin, there had never been a time when I was competing with strangers for access to and shots of something. On the Causeway, things changed.

I guess all you can do is be patient and hope people move in such a way the shot is possible. The above shot is one of a series I took of the end of the causeway as it stretches into the sea. To take it, Dermot and I sat on a couple of the columns for maybe 10 minutes waiting on two teenage girls and some American lad moving- or at least for the American lad to make his move.

I was going to rant about the youth of today and the fact they stood on a Unesco World Heritage site and rather than be astounded, they flirted. Then I remembered when I was young.

I don't know if he got the girl, but I kind of hope he did.

Situated in the Glens of Antrim, Carnlough is a fishing village on the Causeway Coast Road.

(1/160sec, f/10, 55mm, ISO-100, 12/04/08)

 

Not a lot to say about this photo. I quite liked it.

As villages go, this place has a lot of potential for a photographer, meeting all the criteria for "Irish" scenery. It's somewhere that I'd very much like to spend a day shooting in and around and I reckon if we hadn't of been on a mission that might have been what we ended up doing.

Interestingly, Dermot posted a very similar picture a few days ago, you can find it here. not sure which picture I like more. If I was pushed I'd say Dermot's composition is better than mine, but I think I prefer my colours .

What is it about old boats and stories?

With my wife coming from a fishing village I've got used to seeing old boats around the headlands and in the bays. All beached, left to rust or rot. Unlike old cars, they still offer a sense of romance or purpose - even if only to remind us of different times.

I saw the "Spinning Wheel" and wondered about it. Especially at the colours and grain of the old wood.

(f/8, 1/125sec, 46mm, ISO-100, WB- Cloudy)

 

Maybe she'll sail again.

I'd been saying to Dermot for ages about coming up north for a day so I could return the favour from those times when he took me out round Dublin. Well, since he's gone and got a job in Holland, the some time quickly became a time and that time was yesterday.

We met around 10 in Belfast and headed off in search of the Antrim Coast Road and the Giants Causeway. Being a native of the North, I off course knew exactly where the coast road was - beside the sea, somewhere to the right of the country. I'm not sure I impressed Dermot with my geographical ability, but trusty steed and I found it eventually while I regaled my Dublin friend with tales and folklore about the land we passed through.

Tales like...

"These houses are really expensive!"

"That's our power station" (I may have got the name wrong though...)

"This is Carrickfergus, it has a castle. Look that old building, that must be it"

"The Causeway coast is most of the best coastal roads in the world" - I may have made this up. But I was sure I heard this on TV somewhere....

And so continued a day to the North. A day that promised rain and wind, but brought only sun and warmth. I'll start posting photographs over the next while. But for now...

 

A typical view from just off the Causeway Coastal Route.

(F20, 1/30sec, 10mm, ISO-100, HDR - +1/-1ev*) - Some levels adjustments.

 

 

Hopefully Dermot enjoyed the day. I know I enjoyed it right up until 10 minutes after he left for Dublin when my attempt to get a burger was rudely interrupted by someone driving into the car while I was parked. They didn't even have the decency to hit the same side as my neighbour a few weeks earlier. My mechanic is going to love me...

 

 

 

* I've added a little bit more information to my usual image settings line. The HDR numbers here refer to the exposure differences used to create the HDR base for the finished image - typically the camera seems to change the shutter speed, but that may be just because I'm shooting in Aperture mode.

Last picture of the pier in Dungloe for the time being. It's yet another thing on my list of "to try again" shots. Next time, hopefully with the classic sunset (and just a little bit warmer please).

I've been using a product called Dynamic Photo HDR for all these shots. Whilst possibly not as complete as Photomatix, it's pretty simple to use, gives good results and isn't out of the question at $39. Both products have demo versions available, so give them a go.

Having played a fair bit with HDR over the past week, it's another of those techniques that generates tripe and treacle. I'm not overly happy with some of the pictures I've ended up with, but the taste is there and I'll be back for more.

This is another composite image, created from an HDR tone map.  It's also had some level alterations made to the pier itself to make it a little brighter.

 

Oh and Darrell, you're right. There is crud on my lens. It was in this picture as well, before I cloned it out. I'll look into cleaning the camera and kit over the weekend. Good spot!

Another of the shots from Donegal over Easter. This time, taken at a fly fishing pier close to Burtonport. The weather spent the entire weekend trying to annoy me.

Yes, it was a personal vendetta.

 

(1/25, F/20, 10mm, ISO-100, 22/03/2008)

 

This image has had some tonal mapping, similar to the previous couple of posts. Mostly just to give the water and the sky a bit more life. Interestingly, it's not composed from multiple images like the HDR posts, instead just using one exposure as the basis.

I like the eerie quality to it, though I'm not sure about the corner of the quay in the bottom left of the picture.

Oh, I've also decided to increase image sizes a little on the blog. Typically I used 300*200 for thumbnails and 800*533 for the proper upscale. I've changed it to something like 400*267 and 900*600 respectively. The odd numbers for height are down to the aspect ratio of the raw picture.

 

Waiting...

... for his ship to come in?

Actually, just waiting to see if the clouds will clear and give me some sort of sunset or if the storms will get that little bit prettier before the rain starts to fall again.

This is another of those tone mapped images using the HDR tool that I found. To be honest, it's pretty much what I would have tried to do manually anyway as the original pictures were either to dark or had the sky blown out.

And yes. This is the first time a 'person' appears in a photo on this blog. It's also the first time 'I' appear on the blog (told you there was a self portrait coming Dermot).

The power of the shutter timer is a glorious thing.

Yes, I is giant. I also wear very baggy jeans for some reason...

Like I said yesterday, I went out over Easter with the attitude that I would try some new things and experiment with some stuff I'd heard of over the past few months.

One of the things I did was to set my camera to do some auto exposure bracketing (AEB)*. For those that don't know, or got bored before that part of the manual (and who can blame you), AEB on your camera sets it up to take three photographs. The first is at the exposure you select, the second is under exposed and the third is over exposed. The amount of over and under exposure is up to you.

It's a useful facility for shooting landscapes and other static scenes and allows you to do things in post processing like tweak some levels or replace an over exposed sky (kind of the same way you might use an ND filter I guess). Whilst not a great example, the picture I took of the Rock of Cashel used the effect - basically the sky was cloned from an under-exposed version of the shot.

Anyhow, I took a range of pictures of a life buoy on Dungloe pier as I really liked the colour against the stormy sky.

The image I got was OK.

(1/15, F/4.5, 22mm, ISO - 100, 23/03/2008)

In itself, I guess the image isn't bad. It's probably better than stuff I took 6 months ago, and I'm happy enough with it. But as usual, I got to playing around and remembered a technique a bluegrass loving bloke I work with told me about called HDR.

HDR, or High Dynamic Range, is a process which allows more tones in an image than would be usual. Essentially shadows are reduced and highlights less blown out... or something like that... Essentially it takes a range of exposures of the same image and mixes them up to produce an interesting composite. Here, let wikipedia explain....

Well, I pushed my three exposures of the life buoy through an HDR engine and got what I think is an interesting result. I'm actually kind of taken with it, so expect more HDR type images soon!

 

 

*For those of you with Canon 400D's and who can't be bothered reading the manual, the AEB setting is on the second menu tab. It's worth noting it resets every time you power off the camera, change a lens, etc etc etc... Also, it behaves differently when using remote or timed release of the shutter. It is worth playing with though...

 

Oh, and the astute will notice that the HDR image is number 1 and the original number 2. Nothing sneaky, just the sequence number that was added when I exported the pictures for upload..... Honest!