Tag Archives: Blarney

Blarney Castle in the Snow

Snow fell last night in Ireland and everything came to a halt as people all over the country gasped in wonder at the strange white stuff on the ground. Thankfully it looks like it won’t last. We’re not equipped to deal with this sort of weather at all!

Blarney Castle opened later than usual but the paths were all cleared so of course I had to go tramping away in the snow covered grass..

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 24mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/50s

Rijnvelds Early Sensation

If you go down to Blarney Castle now you’ll see 30,000 daffodils blooming in the beautiful gardens there. In my last post I joked that the daffodils were confused but it’s a plant that flowers early and tolerates the cold so it’s perfect for this time of year.

Be sure to check out Ferbal O’Callaghan’s beautiful photo of the daffodils too and check out the Friends of Blarney Castle Facebook group where there are more pictures and information.

There’s also the SodShow interview with Paul O’Sullivan and Adam Whitbourn of Blarney Gardens here and here if you want to know more about the gardens there.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 105mm
ISO 160
Shutter speed 1/160s

Confused Daffodils in Blarney Castle

There are some confused daffodils in Blarney Castle this year, out in January! I hope the rest of January is mild enough for them.

I posted a similar photo on Instagram a few hours ago, just in case you’re getting a strange sense of déjà vu.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 45mm
ISO 320
Shutter speed 1/125s

An Garda

A member of An Garda Síochána directed traffic in Blarney last night when Santa visited and the lights were turned on in the village.

This is a long exposure zoomed shot, of about one second duration with the flash firing at the end of the exposure.

To replicate:

  • Make sure you set your flash to “second curtain”. Use Google to find out how on your brand of flash. Normally the flash will fire at the start of an exposure.
  • Have the lens at it’s widest zoom.
  • Set the camera to one second exposure in shutter priority mode (Tv on Canon cameras, S on others) or use manual mode with an aperture as wide as possible.
  • Line up your subject, hit the shutter button and slowly zoom in.

If you’ve timed it right the flash will fire when you’re zoomed in right. They’ll be lit by the flash and any background lights will appear as streaks going towards them. It’s hard to get right and not overexpose your subject so keep practising!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 20mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1s

An Apple for Blarney

I discovered there’s an apple tree on the Waterloo Road near Blarney recently when I spotted apples on the road while out walking.

Originally I thought I’d post this as a bright colourful photo but then I wanted to show off the texture of the fruit against the rough, stony surface of the road. Black and white would be perfect for that. Apologies for the blown out highlights, this was taken with my phone which does a great job but you can only do so much with Jpeg files.

Aperture ƒ/2.2
Camera SM-G900F
Focal length 4.8mm
ISO 40
Shutter speed 1/190s

Red Red Fruit

Red fruit from a tree in the grounds of Blarney Castle. I have no idea what tree they come from as the name plate on the trunk is far below the wall where I photographed them.

I’ll update the post when I find out!

I found out that they’re called “Cornus kousa” thanks to Adam Whitburn who works in the gardens.

It’s Cornus kousa. Some people call it the Szechuan strawberry although it certainly doesn’t taste like one!

Aperture ƒ/2.2
Camera SM-G900F
Focal length 4.8mm
ISO 40
Shutter speed 1/35s

The Cows are Watching

Suspicious eyes watch us through a fence in the grounds of Blarney Castle about a month ago.

PS. No watermark. Photo is CC anyway.

Aperture ƒ/2.2
Camera SM-G900F
Focal length 4.8mm
ISO 40
Shutter speed 1/210s
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