Randles Court Starlights

We stayed in The Randles Court Hotel in Killarney, Co. Kerry last February and one night I wandered out to take a few shots.

This was a long exposure shot, with the aperture closed down as much as possible to f/22.

Lovely hotel too!

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 30s

Paul Street by night

In front of Tesco on Paul Street, Cork by night. This is a long exposure show I made by putting my camera on the ground and leaning the lens on my wallet.

Judging by the lighting it was probably a small aperture too. Love that effect!

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 4s

Construction cranes at night

Cranes over the construction site at the old Guy and Company site make for a striking image at night.

This was taken from the Tesco multi-storey car park, a few metres away from where I shot Clouds move at night.

Yesterday we had to bring the car for a service so I took the opportunity to travel to visit the framer in Kilbrittain and sign the border of the prints Haydn has made. The prints look great, they’re raised up from the background border and will eventually be framed in a deep frame. I hope to post photos of my visit in the next few days if I get the time to work on the photos.

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 30s

Light reflects on the Lough

Light trails from passing cars and street lights reflect on the calm surface of the Lough in Cork in this long exposure shot.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 21mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 10s

Clouds move at night

Clouds fly across the sky in this nighttime shot of Cork City. A crane is in the middle distance, practically a symbol of the City at this stage.

The building site in the foreground is on the old site of the Guy And Company building. There’s St. Anne’s Church or Shandon Bells in the distance.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 10s

Sometimes I just miss talking to you

A sticker on the back of a STOP sign reads, “Sometimes I just miss talking to you” and is signed “The 508”. A message of love for someone missing, or mindless graffiti? What makes the image for me is the couple walking by at the bottom of the frame. The sticker could be a speech bubble above their heads.

Shot on Oliver Plunkett Street a few month’s back while walking around Cork City.

PS. Welcome all from Creative Ireland!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/60s

California Sunset

On the way to the Automattic beach houses last night we drove along the famous road that featured in Basic Instinct. I opened the window on Toni’s car and took a few photos of the sunset. I hoped for it to happen, but I was very lucky that the sun was blocked out by the signpost.

What are we doing on day one? Robert Hoekman, Jr is talking to us about "Designing the obvious" and expanding on his talk from the first day at WordCamp. The talk is going great, and generating lots of chatter and ideas!

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 21mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Inside the Cork University Maternity Hospital

The (still) new Cork University Maternity Hospital or CUMH is shaped like a triangle with a central area that will eventually be planted with grass, flowers and vegetation. For now it’s boring bland grey.

To the right and left you can see balconies. The one of the right adjoins the hospital cafe. Unfortunately it’s so expensive it’s better to make the journey across to Wilton Shopping Center or to one of the many restaurants in the area. The other balcony is unused but I’m sure the hospital bosses will figure out some way of using it. The tower in the center is the stairwell and elevator shafts for the building and they lead onto the main concourse and entrance.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 5s

Light trails on Oliver Plunkett Street

Light trails from a passing car leave their mark on this long exposure shot of Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork.

Can you see pink lights on the vertical poles standing at the edge of the pavement? On my Linux box they’re clear as day but I can’t see them at all in Preview on the Macbook.

The lights were designed and made by MAAS here in Cork and the colour changes slowly from blues to purples to pinks to yellow and to any other colour. It’s quite a sight to see the colour change when standing at one end of this long straight street!

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 8s

Cupid’s Arrow and the birds

Cupid’s Arrow in San Francisco provides an interesting silhouette against the evening sky. If you’ve payed close attention to my photos in the past you might think this is a duplicate of another shot but it’s from a slightly different angle and wider, and I feel stronger because of the pattern the birds make in the sky. What do you think?

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 11mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Cobh at sunset

The tide is out in Cobh, Co. Cork while the sun sets in the west casting an orange glow over the water and boats in the harbour.

Method
This required some work to expose properly. The sky is bright while the harbour, houses and landscape are in shadow. Out with the layers, top layer for the sky was darkened and the opposite was done for the ground.
Then it’s the simple task of adding a layer mask to the top layer and rubbing out the dark bits to expose the brightened landscape.
When using a layer mask, never paint with an opacity of 100%, try 30% or even 5%. Don’t be afraid to do a rough job of exposing the bottom layer because with a layer mask you can always reverse the procedure by swapping the colour of your brush with an opposite colour!

Thank you all for the comments on yesterday’s post, The Lonely Swan, it’s great to get feedback and I’m glad when people get something out of my methods when I describe them. See what you’ve done? I did it again!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/20s