Irish Landscape - Tree by Moonlight

There is something about winter that makes every landscape photographer excited and possibly slightly insane. This is even more so if you are an Irish landscape photographer. Proper sub zero winters in Ireland, especially when they are topped up with a dollop of snow are rare.

So recently, as the Christmas festivities began the winter really kicked in and temperatures plummeted. For two weeks it remained that way. Roads became ice rinks, mountains became practically impassible and every radio news station advised people against making non essential journeys. Despite the conditions I found myself frequently driving the icy back roads and snowy mountain roads in the pursuit of pictures.

One such journey I made during the cold spell was to a location outside of Donore County Meath. It is a location I have often visited but never photographed. However on this occasion I found myself standing on the steepest of incline with only a torch and the moon guiding the way. Above me a lone tree stood eerily against a backdrop of a moonlit sky. This was the picture I had hoped for.

For this shot I wanted to create an image that would make maximum use of the dramatic sky against the stark outline of the land . I also wanted to capture the movement of the clouds to inject some drama into the scene.

With this in mind and I set an exposure of thirty seconds @F13, and as the clouds began to cover the full moon I pressed the shutter.

The thirty second exposure was just enough to create drama in the sky. But perhaps most importantly it was an effective way of controlling any blown highlights that may have been caused by the full moon.

The lens I used for the shot was the Canon 70-200F4L on a Canon 5DMK11 at ISO 640.

What do you think?

Irish photographic Workshops 2010 with Peter McCabe

Details of Irish Landscape photographer Peter McCabes 2010 Irish photographic workshops are now online.

In 2010 Peter will host a number of photographic workshops based in County Donegal Ireland:

1 The "In the field" workshop. Will be located in the Gweedore region of NorthWest Donegal. The region is a landscape photographers dream and gives participants the chance to photograph wonderful wild landscapes, golden sandy beaches, and its Atlantic ravaged coastline.

This workshop is a weekend event running from August 20th to August 22nd 2010 and is limited to five people.

The workshops are suitable for anyone who wants to improve their photography or for anyone who simply wishes to be immersed in the beautiful Donegal landscape.

The course is priced at €690 and includes Hotel accommodation, breakfast, dinner on both evenings and transport to all locations which feature as part of the workshop.

2. The second workshop I will host is entitled "The Photo House". The concept behind the Photo House is that participants come and live together with me in a self catering cottage living and breathing photography. The days will be fun and adventure filled and when the light is gone the the evenings will be spent talking photography and processing the days work.

The “Photo house” will run in the last weekend of June and the first weekend of September 2010 in North West Donegal and is priced at €390. This workshop is limited to groups of three to four people.

The cost includes accommodation, food and transport to a range of exciting photographic locations.

For further information on the above courses email info@photoimagery.net or click on the following link for additional information.

Starling Roost Bettystown Ireland

Last Tuesday while returning from work I made my way home via Bettystown in County Meath Ireland in the hope of photographing the amazing Starling roost that gathers each year in Bettystown.

Each evening as the sun goes down these birds gather in their tens of thousands and perform intricate manoeuvres in the evening sky before settling down for the night. It is an amazing spectacle to witness, and the noise is deafening.

Included in this posting are some images of the spectacle.

Interesting Photographic week

It has been an interesting photographic week for me.

First up I gave a talk on my photography to Mid-Louth Camera Club who are based in Dunleer Co. Louth Ireland. They are a great bunch of people and I really enjoyed the evening. On the night I displayed approximately 50 images and used FotoMagico to put together a slideshow of the images.

FotoMagico is a piece of software that I have only started to use, and am looking forward to exploring its full potential.

It has also been the week, that has seen me receive my first image requests via Twitter. I need to think about how I can use Twitter to best advertise my images to potential buyers.

If anyone has any ideas then I'd welcome their suggestions.