If you’ve been wondering why I’ve gotten so far behind with my Photo of the Week, the simple answer is that I’ve been ill. To cut a long story short, viruses are evil, and modern medicine seems powerless against them. I’m determined to get back on track with this series though, so this is an 8-photo bumper edition! Just before I fell badly ill Allison & Steve Sheridan (of the NosillaCast Podcast) came to Ireland for a short visit, so I’ve chosen my favourite 8 shots form their stay for this instalment. (You can see more shots form the visit on Flickr)

On their first full day in Ireland we went for a drive around the Wicklow mountains. We started off at the lakes in Blessington, then crossed the Wicklow Gap to Glendalough, and returned home by Military Road and the Sally Gap.

I did take some shots in Blessington, but I didn’t think any of them were worthy of a Photo of the Week spot, so the first picture I’m posting was taken at the top of the Wicklow gap looking east towards Glendalough.

The Wicklow Gap
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/160 sec
  • Focal Length: 18mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/11
  • ISO: 200
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Processing: tweaked a little using the Topaz Adjust plugin

The second shot I’ve chosen was also taken at the top of the Wicklow Gap, and it’s my favourite shot of Allison & Steve from the trip.

Allison & Steve
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/400 sec
  • Focal Length: 30mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/11
  • ISO: 200
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority

The third shot I’ve chosen was in Glendalough. It’s undoubtedly a clichéd shot, but I like my take on it all-the-same. The light was very poor, with a massive dynamic range, so I opted to shoot in RAW, tonemap, and then convert to a very dramatic monochrome to really emphasise the textures. By using the channel mixer for the conversion I was able to make the building really stand out by pushing the red channel very high, and taking the blue and green channels down low.

Glendalough - Wicklow, Ireland
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/200 sec
  • Focal Length: 26mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/11
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -1.0ev
  • Processing: first tonemapped the original RAW with Photomatix Pro, then tweaked a little using Topaz Adjust plugin, then converted to monochrome using the Channel Mixer brick in Aperture.

The fourth shot I’ve chosen was from the end-point of our walk in Glendalough, the shore of the Upper-Lake. Just as we were about to turn around and head back to the car a small patch of blue sky passed over giving us a momentary burst of sun.

Glendalough - Wicklow, Ireland
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/640 sec
  • Focal Length: 18mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 200
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -1.0ev
  • Processing: first tonemapped the original RAW with Photomatix Pro, then tweaked a little using Topaz Adjust plugin, before giving it some final tweaks using Aperture’s Dodge & Burn plugin.

As we were walking back towards the visitor centre from the Upper Lake we had some fantastically good luck, just as we had a perfect view of the round tower, the sun picked it out perfectly, while leaving the mountain behind it in shadow. The result was to make the tower appear bright white against a deep green background.

Glendalough - Wicklow, Ireland
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/250 sec
  • Focal Length: 35mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 200
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -0.7ev
  • Processing: first tonemapped the original RAW with Photomatix Pro, then tweaked a little using Aperture’s Dodge & Burn plugin.

Having come back from our walk we headed over to the ruins of the monastic village before heading home for the day. We were lucky enough to get a few more breaks in the clouds which made this shot of the round tower possible. I’m really happy with the composition I managed to pick out with the the little winding path leading to the tower.

The Round Tower - Glendalough, Wicklow, Ireland
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/400 sec
  • Focal Length: 18mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: +0.7ev
  • Processing: first tonemapped with the Topaz Adjust plugin, then tweaked a little using Aperture’s Dodge & Burn plugin.

The last two images I want to share from the visit were taken on Al & Steve’s last day here, when we visited the Hill of Tara on a beautifully sunny but rather blustery afternoon. Through pure luck we arrived just in time to catch a falconry demonstration! The bird was really loving the strong winds, and the sky was quite dramatic, so I was able to get some nice shots of her flying. This first shot from Tara is my favourite of the inflight shots I got.

Bird in Flight
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1/3200 sec
  • Focal Length: 200mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -0.7ev

Finally, the last picture for today’s bumper post is a view from the top of the Hill of Tara out across the Irish midlands. The stone in the foreground is the so-called Stone of Destiny, where the Irish High Kings were crowned.

The Hill of Tara - Meath, Ireland
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/1000 sec
  • Focal Length: 23mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Processing: first tonemapped the original RAW with Photomatix Pro, then tweaked a little using Topaz Adjust plugin.