Olivier's Blog

These autumnal days we are lucky to experience what many would consider excellent weather for this time of the year. Mild temperatures, sunny sky and rapidly changing trees would make you believe that Ireland is currently under the spell of a very enjoyable Indian Summer (OK, not quite... ).

It is under these conditions last Sunday afternoon that I headed with my camera for North Bull Island, a nice stretch of land sprawling within the Dublin Bay, easily reachable by car or by foot thanks to a nice wooden bridge connecting the island to Clontarf Road.

The island is ideally located to photograph the instantly recognizable old towers of the Poolbeg power plant and, in the distance,  the docks  harbouring various ships of impressive sizes. This place also offers one of the rare locations around Dublin that is perfectly suited for photographing sunsets. Lying on the Eastern coast of Ireland, Dublin is indeed usually more suited to early morning shots.

In the other direction,  the distant Howth peninsula is clearly visible and offers a completely different sight than the more familiar urban and industrial landscape of the capital city.

The contrast between these two scenes was further magnified by the fact that the light produced by the setting sun was radically different. Take a look at the following pictures.

First the Southern view towards Dublin harbour...

That's an OK picture, helped a bit by the dominant Poolbeg chimneys breaking the flat horizontal continuity of the distant skyline. Some colours have been preserved despite shooting towards the sun thanks to clouds obstructing the intense light and softening the intense contrast.

All the ingredients are there: an instantly recognizable landmark, low light conditions and a perfect sunset to warm up the industrial scene in the background and some glitter on the water. But you know what I think? The image lacks foreground interest and the panoramic format is not enough to compensate for the fact that there is very little depth. First the sea, then the industrial skyline and finally the sky. In that order... Yaaaawnnn!

Usually it's not a good idea to focus on photographing a sunset by shooting in the direction of the sun itself. The reason for this is that even the best cameras cannot render the huge tonal range the human eye is able to perceive in high contrast situations. As a result, most of these scenes that looked fantastic with the naked eye will turn out to be disappointing when captured digitally or with film.

Now take a look at this second image. It was taken only a couple of minutes later from the same location but this time in the exact opposite direction, towards the Howth peninsula with the sun behind me.

I think the image speaks for itself. While probably not a prize winner, it illustrates nicely why photographers should often concentrate on the less obvious and shoot away from the light source. This time the camera sensor shines at  capturing incredible details within a low contrast scene. The image looks crisper and colours are vivid. Despite the lack of center of interest in the land area, the clouds salvage the image with dramatic light and shapes. The vibrant blues in the sky and warm tones in the clouds have been captured only because this picture was taken away from the intense sunlight.  The pier on the left is also a plus in that it gives a little bit more depth to an otherwise rather flat looking image.

Both pictures are sunset images, but I know which one I would hang on my wall first!