I'm just back from a couple of days around Galway. The weather wasn't great but here is the first couple of Galway landscape shots. Both were taken about 21:00 on my way back to Galway on the road between Maan Cross and Spiddal.

This shot was taken on the road between Clifton and Maan Cross on the same evening.

These shots were taken on the road between Clifton and Maan Cross (on the N59 side) the following evening.

This shot was taken in Clifden on the second evening.

This shot was taken in Clifden, the reflection on the lake really caught my eye.

Highkey With One Light

Here is a nice little lighting setup that produces a very interesting highkey image.

Loop Lighting Pattern with Window Light as Key

There are many ways to use window light for effective portraits. The following setup will show you how to get a loop lighting pattern using window light as the key.

Entries for the Black and White Club Competition

Here are my entries for the Black and White club competition. I'll let you know how I get on.

Old Wreck, Baltray Co. Louth - Second Trip

Well I went back up to the old wreck on Baltry beach. The weather wasn't really playing ball. I have a couple of photos in mind here but have not got what I'm after yet. Knowing the way the weather works I could end up with a lot of shots of this boat before I end up getting what I'm after.

This one below is a 5 minute exposure before the sun came up..I'm always amazed the colours the camera can pull out of an image, to my eye the colours in this image where not there so it was a bit of a surprise to see the camera get an exposure like this.

Book Recommendation

I have just finished reading The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression by Bruce Barnbaum.

I'm a photographer not a writer so I'm not going to even attempt an in-depth review.

I would however like to say I found it a very uplifting experience to read, leading me look upon myself, my world and my art in a totally different way.

It is by far the most powerful book on photography I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in photography.

I have included a link to Amazon here.

Another image style using channels

This post is a slight deviation from my previous post with a different end result. For simplicity I will start at the beginning again.

1. Open your image in Photoshop.

2. Click the Channels Tab.

3. Hold down the CTRL key and single click on the RGB channel, this will load the luminosity as a selection.

4. Press the "Create New Channel" icon on the bottom of the Channels dialog - this will create a new Channel "Alpha 1".

5. Set your background colour to white and press CTRL+DEL a few times to fill the selection with white.

6. Select your brush tool and set your foreground colour to White.

7. Press CTRL+D to deselect the selection.

8. Paint white on all the areas you would like to be white in the final image.

9. Press CTRL+I to invert the channel and then double click on it to load it as a selection.

10. Select the Marque Tool from the toolbox and with the Alpha Channel selected move the selection into the new document where you want the background (you can move it when the little rectangle is displayed).

11. Create a new Layer and select a foreground colour you would like to use, I'm using a dark blue. Press ALT+DEL to fill the selection with the colour.