Category General

Killough harbour.

George McNeill 4 Comments

This week has been a busy one plus the weather should be turning towards spring. With snow still falling in places and heavy rain and winds hitting others, its still winter. So with an hour to spare and a chance of fresh air I went to Killough on the county Down coast here in the northeast of Ireland. With grey sky’s and dull light on the land, landscape shots were out.

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With the tide on the rise this forgotten boat and the colour on the harbour wall caught my attention.

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With it’s moorings long gone and just the remains left I decided this would be in monochrome.

My next three where taken with a 600mm lens with a fence post used has a tripod.

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Shot from around 100 metres and chopped  with very little post processing. I could spend all day shooting gulls in flight. I you every watch a master working in their craft, then gulls are the masters for flight using the medium of air to paint their path.

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The colour’s nature has painted over time and the textures left by the stone masons tools has they shaped the blocks for the harbour wall. The worn steps reshaped with cement, the rusted and coloured metal handrail. It was all this texture and colour that pulled my eye to this shot.

Thank you for visiting, feel free to comment.

Take care,

George

Wagtail’s and sepia tones

George McNeill 8 Comments

With the sun shining and a light breeze I shouldered the camera bag, grabbed a tripod. Car locked and my first chat was with a man and his dog. Some local information is always welcome. I sit here listening to the wind and heavy rain beat it’s tune on the window. I took the following photos last weekend, what a difference this weekend.

First up are a few photograph’s of the Pied wagtail, these were taken while out for a walk along the coast.

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I always hope to get some shots of seals that bask along the shore, but so far no luck. With the tide in I knew they would be out from shore. This one was around 100 metres from shore.

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I got a few head shots but loved the light catching his whisker’s in this one. We have two  type of seal’s around our coast. The grey seal and the common seal with this being the Common seal.

My last one is off the small lighthouses that mark the entrance to Strangford lough on the east coast of Northern Ireland. I gave it an old time look when editing it in Silver Efex Pro. Let me know what you think.

 

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Thank you for visiting.

Take care,

George.

 

Monochrome day

George McNeill Leave a comment

I have a love for black and white images so this week, yep it’s like the weather here. Not much colour with a mix of snow, mist and the never to far away RAIN. So the first image is another misty lough shot.

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This was taken last week, I enlarged the grain a little to soften the image to get the effect of B&W film I shot some years ago.

This next shot was taken with a telephoto lens and edited in Silver Efex Pro2 which is part of the Nik Collection.

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This was taken in the afternoon before sunset with the light coming in from the right and the clouds acting like a large light modifier on the landscape. Also giving a nice rim light to the clouds. This is the Mourne mountains in County Down, Ireland with the cloud covering Slieve Donard the highest mountain in Northern Ireland.

And my last shot I took was of some woods near my daughters home. It was the play of light and shadow on the texture and into the trees that drew me to this shot.

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I edit all my raw images in Lightroom before finishing with Silver Efex Pro2 for any monochrome shots. I hoped you enjoyed the blog, please feel free to leave a comments. What you like or dislike, what software you use for B&W editing or for colour.

Thank you for visiting, liking and your comments. Have a good weekend.

George.

Rising mist.

George McNeill 8 Comments

Was going to sea my daughter and was passing the Spa lough, there was heavy fog that morning but by the afternoon it was lifting. So has I passed the lough I had to grab a couple of photograph before the mist was gone.

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and my last one in monochrome.

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Thank you for visiting.

First sunset 2018

George McNeill 4 Comments

Still cold here with a wind that would cut through you. But it was dry and the sun was out. So took a half hour drive over to the coast on the County Down. With the tide and wind sculpting the sand around the rocks I got these before a rain shower blew in.

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After this was shot the rain started and I watched the first day of the year get overtaken by the dark.

Thank you for visiting,

George

 

Another one over.

George McNeill 4 Comments

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The above photograph was taken from my car of a Grey Heron that was meal hunting till I disturbed him. I took a couple of shots and left him in peace. It was a funny old day, I spend five days of the holidays in my bed due to illness dying with Man Flu. So not having seen my daughter or grandson over Christmas I was going to see them but they were out. So I went a few mile down the road to Dundrum inner bay. With the tide out so was the wildlife, can you see a pattern here. Yea no one home…..

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Bar this little chap here, not rare to see but not too common around here. A Greenshank. Another person I meet was called Leslie who stopped for a chat before going off to try for a shot a few mile around the coast of the sun setting.

He left me his web address so I could have look at his work, Leslie is a Photographer shooting landscapes, weddings and more. Has you will see his landscape shots are around the Mourne mountain area and well worth a look. Stunning is what I called them.

A link to his web site. Mourne Mountain Photography

Please do check out Leslie’s work. So after we parted I’m back where I started with the Grey Heron. A text to my mobile/cell informed me my daughter was home. So needing a coffee and with my grandad  head on, it was off to play with whatever Santa had left my grandson for Christmas. Which I can report kept us amused till his bed time.

So another year almost gone, I want to thank you all for your support, comments and likes. May you get your dreams and wishes in 2018, leave those fears here in 2017. All the best my friends.

George McNeill.

 

From snow to coast.

George McNeill 6 Comments

This time last week I was digging the snow from the drive, taking photo’s in the snow. A week later and bar the mountains the snow is gone, well for now. Here in Ireland the weather can change in an hour. With a cool breeze and sunshine that gave no heat I headed for the coast. With heavy rain showers and a bitter wind I sat with a coffee and watched the bird life feeding in the mud flats left has the tide receded. With the return of the no heat sunshine I grabbed the camera’s and went for a walk. Below are a few of my shots from the day.

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Relax now this is the only bird shot this week, a couple of Redshank’s feeding around the mud flats.

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Fishing boats and one of the markers at the mouth of Strangford Lough. In the back ground is the Isle of Man, Looking closer because of the use of a telephoto lens.

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Kilclief beach looking the Irish sea towards the Isle of Man on the horizon.

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Then I spotted this, photo below.

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Parked in the wrong spot…. the colour of the toy car caught my eye on the walk back.

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It was the sun hitting the seaweed and lichen on the rocks that drew me to this photo.

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My final one of the day.

Thank you for visiting my blog, feel free to comment. What you like ,dislike etc.

Enjoy your weekend.

George.

 

 

 

 

Seaside photo’s

George McNeill 9 Comments

A breezy and over cast day but a warm wind kept any chill at bay. This first photo is at the start of Strangford Lough at a place called Kilclief. I am here trying out new filters.

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The small light marker is one of two at the mouth of the lough. Played around with setting here to see what I could product. This shot was converted to B&W and processed with’s Silver Efex Pro.Then it was a few more miles around the coast to St. John’s lighthouse. Here the wind was full on has it came around the headland.

 

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Again a long exposure smoothed the water and clouds, again finished in Silver Efex Pro.

Then on the way home following the coast I spotted wind surfers out on the water, no filters on here. Using a 70 – 300mm lens on the Nikon D7200 I got this next shot hand held.

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Across the bay you can see part of the Mourne mountains with Newcastle town at the base. Sunlight was throwing shafts of light through the clouds onto the water just off shore and the wind surfers zipping across the water in the strong winds. There its time for me to leave the coast and head inland home.

Thank you for visiting.

Water world

George McNeill 6 Comments

Water world

Well it is here in Ireland at this moment in time. Raining here for a few hours and no sign of it letting up. Took this shot from my room window of a car roof covered in water droplets. Taken with a telephoto lens and chopped to size in processing.

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The car was dark blue and the droplets reflected its colour but I liked it better in Black & white.

Have a great weekend folks

George