Photo Opportunities

You may be disappointed that I’ve concentrated on how, not where, to take photos in Ireland.

Rest assured that almost any where you go, you’ll find yourself standing open-mouthed in awe of subjects and scenes to photograph.

Believe me, when you return home and show your photos to family and friends, you’ll have stories to tell.

Terms used in these articles

Bracketing: Take several shots of the same scene at different exposure settings to help ensure getting at least one well-exposed photo; use in difficult lighting situations. Some digital cameras have automatic bracketing.

Camera shake: Caused by even a slight movement of the camera as it records an image. Camera shake is the main cause of blurred images.

Exposure compensation: Increase or decrease the exposure an image from the exposure automatically selected by a camera metering system.

Fill-in (forced) flash: Forces a flash to go off even in bright light; often used outside to soften dark areas or shadows.

ISO: Number indicating a digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light is needed to make an exposure (see noise)

Metering system: Measures the amount of light when framing a photo and determines the best exposure. Matrix (Evaluative), Spot and Centre-weighted are the main metering types; some digital cameras have all three.

Noise: Randomly-spaced speckles (pixels) that can appear in digital images shot at high ISO numbers. Noise results in a reduction of photo detail and clarity, though sometimes the noise can be reduced with special software.

White balance: Adjusts the brightest part of a scene so it appears white. How a digital camera records colour is affected by the source of light.

Useful Links

Gallery of Photography
A great gallery, with regular workshops and exhibitions, located in Dublin. They also have regular online exhibitions at their website.

Dealing with Varying Lighting

Photographing Stained Glass Windows

Flickr Group: Images of Ireland
Great photographs, and a good way to meet up with people who are very familiar with photographing Ireland.

Photos by Gail Bjork © 2003-2004 All rights reserved. No photo may be used without prior permission.