Another outing last Saturday (Jan 21), Joe and I decided we would reccie Baltray Beach Co Louth, to try and photograph the wreck on the beach there. After a nice and very brisk walk in the cold and drizzle we arrived at the beach which thankfully was protected from the cold wind by the dunes. The only problems were, the tide was in too far so we couldn’t get close enough to the wreck to get any decent shots and the cloud cover was too deep to let the sun through. But we had a good bit of craic and played around with our filters and that. Another problem I had (apart from leaving my camera on the tripod as the tide came in around it) was that I didn’t realise until near the end I had set my ISO at 1000 from the previous shoot. Anyway here are a few of the better shots from the morning.
All comments welcome!
There are two ways to view the gallery:
The first way below click on an image and you will get a larger view and keep clicking next.
The second way to view, if your screen is wide enough. Click on the first image on the film strip over the main image and then keep pressing the right button to see next image. There is also a full screen button to the right and over the main image.
This morning we headed again to Howth for sunrise and this time I got a few nice images, though they needed a bit of work. Especially for Keith here is the edited and original version (just roll your mouse over the image). firstly my hand holding the filter had to be cropped out. Since it wasn’t a graduated filter the transition line is a bit hard and slipped into the water but not too bad. Additional grad filters applied in Lightroom and a bit of processing in Topaz Adjust as well.
The edited version above is a bit stretched to fit the holding box so here it is again:
It was a cold morning but I’m glad I didn’t decide to ignore that alarm as I was tempted to do, and roll over for another wee sleep!
Well 2011 is over and it was another tough year for everyone, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better too fast. So we may as well make the best of it.
So far since Christmas I’ve been out on 4 shoots with friend from the camera club and although the weather wasn’t the best for photography we had some good fun and it got us out into the open air.
The first shoot was the Wednesday after Christmas which Sheldon organised and called it a Wayzgoose, which according to Wikipedia is defined as:
“A wayzgoose was at one time an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August).”
Anyway about 8 turned out and we started at 7.45am at Highrock Malahide and 6 of us headed off to Glendalough for Breakfast and a few more shots. It was a cold but mostly dry day we lst another 2 by midday but the remaining 4 of us headed off to the Avoca store for a fine meal and the first good day ended and I got home about 5pm.
Joe Doyle and I heaed off to Dollymount the following Wednesday for sunries but the sun only showed itself for about 30 seconds. But I had a bit of fun again with my 10 stop filter, need a bit more practice though. Next we headed to Howth for sun rise the following Saturday and the sun was kinder to us but not as well placed for the lighthouse as we hoped. that afternoon we headed to the National Cyclocross championships – St. Anne’s Park. We got a few better images there. Anyway for what they’re worth here’s the best of the bunch.
Less than two weeks to Christmas, the tree is up, the decorations abound, parties to go to and nearly all the presents are ready for under the tree. It’s only left to enjoy the holiday, I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the new year. Times are hard and don’t look like getting any easier so we might as well enjoy the Christmas and spend it with family and good friends and make the best.
Last night I was pleased to win the Advanced open section in our monthly competition. I wanted to remove an element in the image that made it look very cluttered so I tried for the first time the Content Aware Fill feature introduced in Photoshop CS5. It requires you to select what you want to remove select the option and it does an analysis of the surrounding area to decide what should be there. It doesn’t always work the way you expect but I was very pleased in this case that it worked perfectly first time, so here’s a short video on how I used it. To get a clearer view select the full screen icon in the bottom left hand corner of the video (after the words YouTube) and it will show in full screen.
I’ve also decided to show you the image as it came out of the camera and what I finally presented:
The image after some cropping, toning and cleaning up:
Last Monday morning Lynn invited us to the office on the 9th Floor of building where she works, that overlooks the Liffey and the Custom House so we could take some photos. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed a couple of hours taking some shots. You can see some of the ones I took here.
We have just completed a video for the Irish Haemophilia Society for the “Better Together” campaign, which is a campaign to build support for charities, clubs and associations around the country. Below is our entry, which I had great fun putting together.
It would be great if you could lend your support by voting for our video here. Remember vote often!
Today is our last day here in Austria. The flight tonight is at 8.20pm so we are going to get some time here before then. A quick visit to Bad Ischl where the declaration of the first world war was postmarked and the summer home for royalty, Franz Joseph Hapsburg. We had a great breakfast here but didn’t stay too long. Brian had decided to take the trek from St Giglen to Wolfgang so we met him there and had a quick look around. Another very nice town, bigger than St Gilgen but also well worth a look, would have liked more time. To finish off the day we took the cable car from St Gilgen to the summit of Zwolferhorn the nearly 1800m mountain that overlooks St Gilgen. More fantastic views.
At 3.15pm we head to the airport and bar some traffic jams that Helga had warned us about we got there in time.
Another great trip with the lads and a truly wonderful destination. My only problem with the place is that it can be very quiet at night. In fact it can be quiet during the days with shops closing at lunch and no bars at night-time. But I think that it fits with the values and culture of the place. The locals are very proud of their background and will wear their traditional clothing and costumes as a matter of routine, and fair play to them, rather than adopting the now ubiquitous western style of dress.
Some Facts:
Sankt Gilgen: Is named after St Giles, it has 3,675 inhabitants (Jan 2010) and it is 545 m (1788 feet above see level. It lies on the north westshore of the Wolfgansee lake and it covers 98.67 sq km (38 sq ml). It is promoted as the “Mozart Village” although he never set foot there, but his grandfather worked in the town, his mother was born there and his sister lived there after she married. A cable car takes you from the centre of St Giglen to the summit of Zwolferhorn. The other main towns on the lake are St Wolfgang and Strobl. The lake and town are naed after St Wolkgang of Regensurb who, according to legend, built the first church her in the late 10th century.
