The Sugarloaf in County Wicklow at sunset

Is Photoshop a blessing or a curse when it comes to Landscape Photography?  We all know that manipulation is widespread in fashion photography and it’s been that way for years but is it now widespread in the landscape world as well?  I think it is, but unlike a lot of photographers, I don’t think it’s a problem.

Some people are always going to dislike it.  They like their images to be pure.  That’s fine but I’ve rarely pulled an image from my memory card that was ready to go “as is”.  Usually they need, at the very least, a little tweaking of some sort of adjustment.  Maybe a hint of saturation or a shade more contrast is needed.  At the very least it could do with slight sharpening.  These are all helpful tools that help bring an image to the next level.  We’re not talking about over doing anything here, just gentle nudging to get the best out of the raw material you have in front of you.

I always draw the parallel with music.  When a band goes into the studio to record a song, the finished piece of music is polished up considerably.  There can be multiple guitar lines to beef up the sound, harmonising vocals, maybe some background sound effects.  In short the piece of music, while still retaining its raw character, is simply cleaned up and made better by the production.

This is what I do with Photoshop when I want to produce an image.  I consider myself an artist and I’m trying to produce an image that will appeal to my customers.  Is it so wrong to help the image along with little doses of image editing software?  I don’t think so.

Incidentally, a fact that photographers either don’t know or completely ignore is how important image manipulation was to the great Ansel Adams, arguably the greatest influence in the history of American landscape photography.  He regularly produced images that were different to what he saw in the negative.  He developed the zone system and regularly used the technique called dodge and burn in order to manipulate the exposure of many of his images.  I wonder how he would apply the use of Photoshop to his images?  I think he would embrace it as he did view photography as a creative art.  He has been quoted as saying “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”.  I think that’s just his way of saying that in order to make a great image it’s sometimes necessary to change things about slightly.

What we don’t need are these ridiculous looking HDR images that are totally over the top.  Photographers need to realise that the sun never rises in the north, so don’t put it there.  And if the valley needs a few more trees to make it look better then just move your position and find a better view instead of trying to add trees later on in the computer.  There are many examples out there of badly manipulated images, but there are also some amazing looking images that simply wouldn’t exist without some sort of tweaking.

The trend now seems to be that if you use Photoshop you’re lazy and not a real photographer.  Don’t listen to the naysayers.  Use Photoshop or any other image editing software as part of your artistic arsenal.  When used correctly, it can send your image into the stratosphere so use it wisely.

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The Wooden Bridge in Clontarf

I was recently asked by a customer to take a shot of a bridge in Clontarf that is quite famous in the area and is also well known throughout Dublin.  The bridge in question was the Wooden Bridge in Clontarf that leads out from Dollymount and forms part of the North Bull Wall.  It has a fascinating history.

The bridge was originally built in 1819 in order to facilitate the construction of the Bull Wall.  The Bull Wall was built to help prevent silting of the shipping channel which ran through Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey.

Dublin always had a major silting problem.  Early attempts at dredging a channel simply never worked and, in 1715, work started on a wall on the south side of the channel and was completed in 1730.  This was a structure made of wooden Oak piles and it was subsequently breached by storm damage in the mid 1700’s by which time it had begun to rot.  In 1761 the building of a stone wall, using Dalkey Granite, was started at the Poolbeg Lighthouse and this was to be built back to shore.  This is the wall we know today on the south side of Dublin Bay.

This south wall didn’t solve the silting problem though and a study commissioned by the authorities responsible for Dublin Port highlighted the potential for a wall on the north side of the bay at the North Bull Sandbank.  This study was written by Captain William Bligh, of  Mutiny on the Bounty fame.  The wall was designed by George Halpin, and after 5 years was completed in 1825 at a cost of around $95,000.

It proved to be a huge success and in subsequent years the effects of the tides on wall naturally gouged out silt from the river bed and this was deposited by the tide on the North Bull sandbank.  As time went on the sandbank grew to become an island and is now what Dubliners lovingly refer to as Dollymount or ‘Dollyer’ as it is more commonly referred to. Dublin has a long and proud history but few people realise, as they are walking across it, just how much a small wooden bridge contributed to that history.

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The Twelve Bens, Connemara, County Galway

Connemara is very probably the part of Ireland I love most.  It has some wonderful beaches, hundreds of lakes, mountains, heath land and of course the Connemara Pony.  Connemara is an area of land in County Galway in the west of Ireland in the province of Connacht.  Geographically, it is surrounded on its north, south and western shores by the Atlantic Ocean.  It is an area of Ireland that attracts many tourists every year and it’s little wonder as it’s natural beauty really hits you as soon as you reach the area.

The dominant feature of Connemara is the Twelve Bens Mountain Range.  While it’s true that they aren’t very large in a global sense, they still rate as large in Ireland.  The tallest peak in the range is Benbaun which stands at 729 metres and this comes in just ahead of its nearest rival Bencorr at 711 metres.  On the other side of the Inagh Valley and directly across from the Twelve Bens lie the Maumturks Mountain Range whos highest peak is at 702 metres.

It’s not just mountains though that Connemara can boast.  Killary Harbour is one of 3 Glacial Fjords in Ireland (the other two being Lough Swilly and Carlingford Lough) and lies at its northern border.  It is a very popular area for scuba divers and it also has a thriving Mussel Farm Fishery.  Leenane is the main village in the area and it is situated at the head of the harbour on the Galway– Mayo border.  It is famous as the village depicted in the film The Field.

If heath land, mountain streams and lakes are your thing then the area won’t let you down.  The large amount of rainfall in the West of Ireland not only contributes to the famous Irish ‘soft day’ but also causes many streams to cascade down the mountains.  Although Lough Corrib is County Galway’s largest lake it isn’t situated in Connemara.  There are however, hundreds of smaller lakes dotted all over the place.  A lot of these provide some outstanding trout fishing and for the photographer there is always the obligatory small boat on the lakeshore, setting the scene for the perfect West of Ireland shot.

Many American’s come here to trace back some of their ancient family roots.  During the Great Famine 1.3 million people emigrated from Ireland with 70% of these people getting the boat to America.  Many of these people came from the west of the country from Donegal down to Kerry and a great many of these came from Connemara.  There are around 42 million Americans that claim wholly or partly Irish ancestry.

All in all, Connemara is a great place to visit.  It’s stunning scenery and friendly people never fail to make the visitor feel at home.

To see some more images of Connemara why not visit www.theirishlandscape.com

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I was really confident that I had thought of everything and I had.  Well almost.  I had neglected to follow the weather forecast.  The weather has been so volatile lately that I have simply given up with it.  It forecasts sunshine and somehow wherever you are it seems to pour out of the heavens.  It’s meant to be flat calm and before you know it, it’s howling furies and you are being blown around like a feather in a wind tunnel.   To be fair, you do get used to it as an Irish landscape photographer.  Rain and overcast days are par for the course here.  Our mountain passes might not be the highest you’ll ever come across but somehow they always seem to have there own micro climates that cover everything in low cloud.

The important things on these days are to take plenty of test shots and walk around looking for different angles that you hadn’t realised were there.  I just have to hope that the weather clears soon as it’s September now and the carpets of purple heather won’t last much longer.  The mountains aren’t going anywhere but the heather will be dying back for the year and with it will go the fabulous colours that make the Wicklow Mountains National Park so beautiful.  Hopefully next week will bring the break in the weather that I need.  Talk to you all then.

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This is just a quick hello to let the world know that I’m back in the blogging world.  I’ll be here once a week, maybe more, revealing new photos of the Irish Landscape and giving my 2 cents on landscape and macro photography and hopefully having a bit of fun along the way.

I’ll talk to you soon

Dave

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