Seascape, Landscape and Urban Photography Northern Ireland
My first attempt at photography Northern Ireland; hopefully the first of many.
Including:
- Seascapes, especially the Giant’s Causeway
- Landscape, e.g., Dark Hedges as featured in the Game of Thrones
- Urban/ street photography, such as the shot right of the Londonderry Peace Bridge at sunset.
As a bonus we found a great place to stay: Landmark Trust property dating from 1800, Drum Gate Lodge. Hire the whole lodge two people, one bed, for a spot of period self-catering.
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Giant’s Causeway
Sadly, on all of the several occasions I visited, there was so much pollution in the sea that potential shots at the actual causeway were ruined by the intrusion of unsightly foam. Images below made at the coast approximately half way along the mile walk from the National Trust car park. Shot just before dawn, hence blue.
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ISO 100, f/9.0, 30 Sec.
Dark Hedges
Made famous through the Game of Thrones film series, Dark Hedges is an avenue of beech trees whose canopy over the road effectively turns the bye-way into a tunnel.
[Visited on 23rd October 2018]. Woman in red provides foreground interest, but with the benefit of hindsight, also overly dominates the scene and blocks the eye from moving further into the image.
Londonderry
Streets still show signs of sectarian tension as memories of the troubles linger large in Londonderry/ Derry.
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The shots above show the density of the housing in the city’s estates which contrasts with the optimistic architecture of the Peace bridge below and the city centre as a whole. I like the way the subject completely fills the image, as Andreas Gursky achieves in many of his pictures.
The middle image, being square breaks the series, which is good. However, I would reduce the amount of sky in the central picture, probably by stretching it, to make it better match the two on either side.
[Possibly worth further work].
The Peace Bridge
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The complementary colours blue/ orange-yellow, and the square format of the initial image make an interesting series.
To make the above images work perfectly as a triptych, I would:
- possibly match the tones across the images – however the current gradual darkening may have some merit
- align the horizons perfectly
- maybe compress the middle image into a standard 3×2 aspect.
[Note to self: worth further experimentation.]
Dunseverick Castle
Not much of a castle, only a few ruined walls remain on an inaccessible peninsular now owned by the National Trust, but an interesting bay with the opportunity for dramatic seascape photography.
The challenge in the above image was matching the colour tones between the two images which were shot at different angles relative to the sun and at different times in changing light. This was achieved in Photoshop using the Color Balance tool to separately adjust highlights, mid-tones and shadows.
Drum Gate Lodge
Drum Gate Lodge is an Irish Landmark Trust property with the original small “one-up one-down” tower build in and occupied from 1800. Hard to imagine how whole families lived in this small space until 1962. Now softened up with a kitchen and bathroom in an separate building attached by an entrance hall, and underfloor heating keeping it all very civilised. Being less than 5 miles from the Giants Causeway in the middle of County Antrim it is an ideal base for the roving holidaymaker/ photographer.
The building still looks fantastic.
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Notice our dog making himself at home under the stairs in the last image.
As a place to stay for up to a week, highly recommended.
To see the contemporaneous notes from the days when the above images were shot see: Journal November 2018.
To see more posts on other photographic topics, or to follow my learning progress, please like or follow me on the social media channel of your choice to the right.