The new Windsor Hotel on McCurtain Street was still wrapped up last October when I took this photo of the building.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Author Archives: Donncha
Blarney Castle in the Autumn
The red cobbles
The new Shaky Bridge (Shakey Bridge?), or Daly’s Bridge, is a huge improvement over the old. The lighting makes it stand out, and it still has the shakes like the old one!
I love the cobbles on the ground nearby but the ugly concrete support under the walkway up to it leaves something to be desired. 🙁
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 4s |
A Bright Spot in the Garden
Sun Shines Through the Trees
The sun has set on 2020 and I finish the year with what is probably my favourite photo of the year.
The sun shines through trees heavy with Autumn coloured leaves, not yet touched by the harsh winter winds back in October this year. Photo made in the grounds of Blarney Castle where I expect to take many more walks since we are only allowed exercise within 5km of home. That remains in place until the end of January because of rising Covid19 numbers in the country. Third lockdown of the year unfortunately.
I have made roughly half the number of photos I normally shoot in a year. In April I took one photo with my camera. The number of photos I took with my phone wasn’t much different from previous years but I know for certain that I took many more photos of my cats and dog this year!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 70mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
Sunset on 2020
Michael Mansfield of Ardmore, Co Waterford
Many years ago I published a few photos of Ardmore in Co Waterford. The post received a number of comments about one particular photo of a gentleman on a motorbike. His name was Michael Mansfield and unfortunately he passed away in 2009 but that hasn’t stopped the occasional visitor from leaving a comment since then, the most recent being yesterday.
That comment prompted me to look up the photos I made that day in 2005 to find more photos of Michael Mansfield. Here are the three I found, including the one that appeared in the original post.
Reading the comments I wish I had stopped to talk to Michael. He seems to have been quite the character around Ardmore!
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | CYBERSHOT |
| Focal length | 25.1mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A Robin at the Castle
Red Sky in the Morning
The Swans of Blarney Castle
Blarney Lake lies at the far end of the gardens surrounding Blarney Castle but is well worth a visit if you’re in the gardens. I’m not sure how often swans are there but these two curious and friendly birds were there yesterday.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | DSC-RX100M4 |
| Focal length | 25.7mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
HDR in ON1 Photo RAW 2021 vs Lightroom
I got an email from On1 again this morning offering a free trial of the latest version of their raw processor. Since I just paid for another year of Adobe Lightroom I’m not going to switch but every year ON1 Photo RAW gets better and better.
I took loads of bracketed photos at Blarney Castle yesterday so I decided to test out the HDR feature in Lightroom and On1 Photo RAW 2021. Last year I was not impressed when I tested this but the end result this time was very pleasing. ON1 created a slightly brighter, paler image with less contrast than Lightroom which I prefer. If you’re a Lightroom user you should definitely try the free trial of ON1 Photo RAW!
I upload my photos to Google Photos too. It generates HDR images from uploaded files. The HDR images tend to be too colourful and look like the HDR images created when HDR was a new thing and people were a little too enthusiastic about it. Here’s what Google Photos made of the same set of images.
In this totally unscientific and simple test I like the HDR created by ON1 Photo RAW the best!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
Fun day at Fota Wildlife Park
Earlier this year, between lockdowns, I visited Fota Wildlife Park for a nice couple of hours walking around the park looking at the animals. No chance now, Fota is more than 5km from my home!
