Bonamargy Friary, just outside Ballycastle on Northern Ireland's Antrim coast was one of those places that Liz and I were determined to find during our stay in the area during the summer of 2013.
While visiting the local art gallery in Ballycastle, we saw three or four photos of these steps and we were intrigued by the sort of mystical ambiance that came across in the images.
A few inquiries later and we learned that the steps were to be found within the ruins of Bonamargy Friary, just outside of town.
Well we drove up and down the road where the friary was allegedly located but couldn't find it at first. We were expecting quite a large set of ruins, complete with a big sign and a tea shop, but in fact when we actually found it the friary was quite small and well hidden behind some trees in the middle of a golf course.
Walking around the ruins we found the steps we were looking for, as pictured here, but actually photographing these steps proved quite a technical challenge.
First off the steps were behind a locked wrought iron gate, so I had to lean the camera plus tripod right up against the bars to avoid including them in the composition.
My next problem was the immense tonal range present in the scene. From the sunlit top of the steps to the deepest shadows at the bottom there was about 14 exposure stops difference.
Seeing as my good old Canon 5D can cope with around 5 stops I knew something had to give.
I actually took 9 separate exposures, each 1 stop apart, to capture the entire tonal range of the scene, with a plan to produce an HDR rendering that gave me details everywhere.
However, I was disappointed in the look of the HDR image, so I reverted to using just one exposure to make this fianl version.
I chose to retain detail in the shadows and allow the sunlit area at the top of the steps to burn out. After all, I wanted to convey a sense of mystery in this image, and the hazy sunlight helps with that feeling.
Filename - bonamargy friary 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 1/2sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Bonamargy Friary, Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
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