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Well I wasn't expecting that!
Driving around the southwest coast of Ireland while exploring the Wild Atlantic Way took my wife Liz and I to the wonderfully named Roaring Water Bay in County Cork.
Fortunately for us the area didn't live up to its name while we were there, with calm, sunny conditions prevailing.
But even so, I wasn't expecting to find a bluebell wood in such an exposed location, looking absolutely stunning in the dappled sunlight filtering through the mature trees.
So it was into a convenient layby and out with the camera to try and capture the beauty of the scene on silicon (much less prosaic the film, but much more practical!)
I hit problems trying to photograph this scene almost immediately, as the contrast range between the brightly lit patches of sunshine and shadowed areas was much too great for my camera's sensor to cope with.
So it was back to the car for the tripod to firmly mount the camera in one position as I took multiple exposures of the scene at different shutter speeds, each one stop apart, for a high dynamic range blend in Adobe Lightroom.
The HDR blend worked just great, giving me a file with lovely tonal gradations and rich colours that really brought out the beauty of the scene as I remembered seeing it at the time.
Filename - bluebells 03.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 105mm
Exposure - various @ f16, ISO100
Filters - Polarising filter used to reduce glare and enhance colour.
Location - Roaring Water Bay, County Cork, Ireland
This image - 800x450px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
Comments - HDR blend of multiple exposures.
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