Rainy days and water droplets

I'm not one of these people that only takes photographs on sunny days and never goes out when it's overcast or raining. Every type of weather offers different photographic opportunities and if you don't take them your really missing out!

I was planning to go back up to the Mourne mountains this weekend to an area around the 'Hares gap' that i haven't explored before, but the weather forecast was not good for the type of landscape images I was after (it was pouring with rain) so I decided to use the the rain to my advantage and grab some water droplet shots from my garden.



It's not often the conditions are favorable for these type of shots as often the rain is accompanied by wind, which can make it near impossible to get a macro shot due to your chosen subject swaying about! What you can do however is manually focus and sway 'in time' with the subject and rattle off a few high speed shots. you might get lucky!

The best way though is to shoot between showers and set the camera up on a tripod. Using the tripod will slow you down enough to compose the image properly without rushing it. You can then also use the 'live view' feature (if available) to ensure your focus is spot on.



try and get something of interest in the reflection of the chosen water droplet. It can be anything from another plant or tree to a landscape. Just ensure that whatever is reflected is in sharp focus.

Bye for now.

The Mourne mountains revisited

This weekend I took myself off to the Mourne mountains again. It is such a photogenic place and is only around an hour's drive from where I live it's hard to resist, especially when the weather looks so promising.

I truly love this place, it has beauty in a very dramatic and desolate sense. In some parts it almost feels like and looks prehistoric, and it is very easy to forget that civilization surrounds it and is only just around the corner.

The brandy pad is a route I have never taken before. This starts at the foot of Slieve Meelmore and leads up past the hare's gap and up past Slieve Bearnagh. The track was created by smugglers and their heavily laden ponies as they transported illegal goods such as tobacco, spirits and leather inland from the east coast in the 18th and 19 centuries. It was so popular by 1835 that almost half the houses in Hilltown were pubs!




Once at the top of the path you climb over the Mourne wall and are then faced with the most amazing plateau that contains Doan and Slievelamagan. The view the stretches all the way down through and past the silent valley reservior to the sea. This is perfect for panoramic shots.



This area is very popular with hikers and climbers so if you don't want them in your images then you may need to be patient to get a clear uninterrupted view.

I will be returning here again in the near future as I didn't have the time (or the energy!) to explore the hares gap.

All the images are in the Kingdom of Mourne gallery.

Bye for now.