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?

Experimenting with Time-Lapse

It has been a week of experiments. A week that has seen me make my first attempt at Time-Lapse photography while standing on an icy bridge over looking the Boyne suspension Bridge near Drogheda County Louth Ireland. It was also the week were I made my first attempt at shooting star trails.

Why I decided to do this during one of the coldest Irish winters in years I will never know. But hey you gotta start sometime.

Boyne Suspension Bridge Drogheda from Peter McCabe on Vimeo.

The time-lapse attempt was a lot of fun and it opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities. The result is far from perfect, however I have promised myself a return visit this week to try and improve on my earlier attempt.

Despite all the experimenting and traveling on icy roads my favourite image of the week was taken in the woods across from my home. The image of a frozen leaf which you can see below occurred when I dropped a lens cap and noticed the leaf and its delicate frosted coating.

I guess I need to start looking down more!

"Off the beaten track"

April 2008 saw the opening of Irish Landscape Photographer Peter McCabe exhibition entitled "Off the beaten track" in the Man Made Images gallery in Mountcharles County Donegal Ireland.

The gallery is the only gallery dedicated purely to exhibiting photography in Ireland.

Opening night was one of mixed emotions. Peter was nervous with thoughts that no one would turn up yet excited the weeks of hard work had finally come to fruition.

Thankfully opening night was a resounding success. The gallery was packed to the rafters and a large number of his Irish landscape prints where sold on opening night.

To view the "Off the beaten track" exhibition as a slide show click here .