After the fireworks a few weeks ago and I wanted one last photo, this time of Cobh Cathderal.
A hand held HDR taken while my camera rested precariously on top of a wall!
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/4s |
I barely made it to Cobh on Sunday night to photograph the fireworks display that started promptly at 10pm. On the way there, the cloudy sky was lit up by peals of thunder and flashes of lightning. Rain fell in light spatters on the car, and I’m told there was a downpour just before I arrived.
Luckily the rain held off for the duration of the fireworks that night. I met Vivian and Michelle in front of the Cathedral where they had saved a space for me. I set up my tripod quickly and grappled with an umbrella while I secured my camera to the tripod and connected a remote release.
Before I could manually focus the camera, the bells of the Cathedral rang out and the first firework flew into the sky and burst with a bang.
If you’re interested. I shot at around f/5.0, ISO 400 and timed the exposure manually with the shutter release when I saw fireworks fly into the air and explode. It worked most of the time, and to help focus I tapped the screen on the water in front of the fireworks, which adds a focus square there on my camera.
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 38mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 2s |
A few photos from the fireworks display on Spike Island in Cork Harbour last night. 1300 fireworks were launched in just under 10 minutes!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 124mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 4s |
The rain pours down on Cobh on a dreary Sunday afternoon recently.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | SM-G998B |
| Focal length | 9mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/800s |
The Jewel of the Seas, a gigantic cruise liner operated by Royal Caribbean left Cobh in Co Cork yesterday. The Cobh Confraternity Band played music while she undocked and set off.
Looking up at this enormous ship makes you feel like insignificant. The decks extend up into the sky and she left the harbour quickly and smoothly.
| Camera | SM-G998B |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
Fireworks lit the sky over Cobh last night as part of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. I’m glad Henry heard about the event as I had no idea it was on!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 65mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 2s |
Just some of the boats you’ll see in Cobh, Co Cork. January 2020.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Small sailboats in Cork Harbour in front of Cobh.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
The beautiful town of Cobh, January 2020 when news of a virus in China seemed so far away.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The People’s Regatta in Cobh ended with a spectacular fireworks display last night! I got there early and set up just below Cobh Cathedral. I could see that Kennedy Park was packed, the pier was too but there were only a few around the Cathedral. About five minutes before the fireworks were due to start the street quickly filled with onlookers!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 70mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 6s |
Spike Island in Cork Harbour celebrated it’s 81st birthday yesterday with a fireworks display. 1300 fireworks were set off, one for each of the inmates who died on the island during it’s time as a prison over the centuries. I didn’t have a ticket for the event but it was visible from many parts of the Harbour, including Cobh where I gathered with members of Blarney Photography Club.
The evening was warm, and although the fireworks display was far away from Cobh it was enjoyed by everyone around.
It had been a while since I’d photographed fireworks so the tips in this video came in handy:
It turns out that shooting at f/8 or f/10 wasn’t the right aperture after all. It wasn’t letting in enough light in the time I wanted. The fireworks were so far away and the surrounding water and countryside so dark that images were very dark.
Before the event we tested settings trying to get an exposure of -2EV so the surrounding countryside was dark but it rapidly grew darker while the fireworks flew into the air so you had to keep an eye on the exposure every few shots!
My first shots of the night were much too dark. I was shooting in manual mode with a shutter release and I was only shooting short one to five second exposures. It wasn’t until I went over 7 seconds and up to 15 seconds that I got usable images.
In an urban environment and if the fireworks are closer you definitely should start at f/8, but you have to adjust your settings to your situation.
The first (out of focus) shot here is a 7 second exposure, f/7.1 at ISO 100, and that was good enough for a few minutes.
Only four minutes later I needed more light so I opened the aperture to f/5.6.
A few minutes later again I increased the ISO to 200 which has the effect of making the camera sensor more sensitive to light. That wasn’t enough and I increased the ISO to 400, with various exposure times for the last few images.
Shooting RAW and working in Lightroom or other RAW processor means you can push the photo more so exposure settings don’t have to be spot on every time. In Lightroom I found it useful to increase temperature of the photo to make it warm to counteract the blue hour light after the sun set. I increased the highlights a bit, took down whites and increased vibrance a small amount. Apart from cropping there wasn’t much else done to the images.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 127mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 8s |
Cobh, Co Cork. September 2015.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 17mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |