I visited Kinsale recently with Blarney Photography Club. Many photos were taken all around the town, but I went down the quay to start with the boats mooored nearby.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 46mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 2s |
Tag Archives: Cork Harbour
HNLMS Dolfijn Visits Cork
In 2003, the Dutch submarine, Dolfijn, or Dulfun, visited Cork for a few days. I happened to be around town and spotted it from Kennedy Quay where I’d been photographing the ships, buildings and machinery.
When it left Cork, it headed to Mallorca. September in Cork is nice, but I wouldn’t mind a few days there in October!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | CYBERSHOT |
| Focal length | 11.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Fog descends on Roche’s Point Lighthouse
Fog flowed in from the sea on a warm day in March, 2011. It almost covered the lighthouse, and it will do so a few minutes later.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 300mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1250s |
The ruins of Heartbreak Pier in Cobh
The remains of the pier where people boarded boats to take them to the Titanic and other ships. 123 people left Cobh here to board the Titanic that was moored off Roche’s Point, at the mouth of the harbour.
In March 2018, plans were approved for an observation walkway and ticket kiosk, but thankfully they were rejected in April 2019.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
Grace O’Malley in Cork
Elisabeth Leaves Cork
The container ship Elisabeth left Cork yesterday at 17:19 on its way to Southampton in the UK. Here it is rounding the bend by Blackrock Castle as it heads into the harbour and out to sea.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
Belem and Grace O’Malley in Cork
Belem, a French tall ship, was docked in Cork Harbour until 10am this morning. There was a mostly disappointing sunset last night, but the sky did light up briefly just at the horizon.
The masts and rigging of the Grace O’Malley, the new sail training ship can be seen in the background. It was a lovely evening to be out taking photos.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/2.5s |
After the sun set near Crosshaven
Spike Island Fireworks
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 |
Summer Rain in Cobh
Cobh From Afar
Spike Island Fireworks
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:
- Use a tripod.
- Use a cable release.
- Use a wide angle lens (not this time, probably)
- Focus just shy of infinity.
- Use manual mode.
- Shoot at f/8 to f/10.
- Use a slow shutter speed. (3-6 seconds). Use bulb mode and a shutter release to capture the light before it trails off.
- Shoot at ISO 100.
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 |