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Of course, visiting Northern Ireland's Antrim coast wouldn't be complete without a trip to see the fabled Giant's Causeway.
Situated on the north facing part of the coast, this is an ideal location for summertime dawn or dusk photography, which is why Liz and I decided to spend a few hours here in the late afternoon, with a pause for a meal and then a contemplative session watching the sun set over the famous hexagonal basalt columns.
Naturally I photographed the sunset, but as is my usual preference, I then watched and waited as the light slowly bled from the twilight sky.
As the light levels reduced, two things happened.
Firstly my exposure times started to increase (this image was taken with a 5 second exposure) which allowed the rough waves at my feet to blur into a mist like state, drawing a semi-transparent veil over the hexagonal basalt columns.
Secondly, the contrast range between the sky and the black basalt reduced, allowing my to capture more detail in the foreground without burning out the sky, although I still needed a three stop neuatral density graduated filter to keep things in check.
These two features of twilight photography combined here at the Giant's Causeway to give a very pleasing photographic effect, which I played with further by converting the image to monochrome which I found to be more indicative of the other-worldly nature of this unique location.
Filename - giants causeway 02.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 26mm
Exposure - 5 secs @ f22, ISO100
Location - Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - ND grad filter used to control tonal range.
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