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Two days of good weather were all that Liz and I managed during our 2016 holiday in the west of Ireland, so we packed as much into those two days as we could.
Our most adventurous trip involved a three hour drive north from our base near Limerick, up to Achill Island in County Mayo.
We'd visited Achill Island before, under foul weather conditions, and came away not having seen much of the raw beauty of this part of Ireland's wild Atlantic coast.
But this trip more than made up for previous disappointments, and we took the whole day and evening exploring the stunning cliffs and beaches that adorn the island.
The largest, and perhaps the most visually stunning beach we saw was at Keel, the largest town on the island, with acres of wet sand exposed at low tide reflecting the sky and scenery in a spectacular fashion.
Liz and I spent a while walking the beach, with me taking photos as we went along, of course.
Most of the photos I took were to the south, taking in the sweep of some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, but for this image I looked to the west, directly into the setting sun and its reflection in the wet sand.
In the middle distance a girl was busy composing a photo on her mobile, so I quickly grabbed this photo, including her in my composotion as silhouette, adding a much needed point of interest and black point reference.
Another compositional effect I used in the image was to use a small aperture of f22, which gave rise to the starburst effect from the sun - always a neat trick if you can use it.
Filename - achill island keel beach 02
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 35mm
Exposure - 1/30 sec @ f22, ISO100
Filters - Two stop neutral density graduated to balance the exposure
Location - Keel, Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland
This image - 800x640px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera movement
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