Category Archives: How I took that shot

How I Took That Shot – Kevin O’Brien

This shot by Kevin O’Brien took first place in Grade C in our recent ‘Seascape’ printed competition. This is how the shot came about:

I took this shot specifically for the competition as I wanted to try out some recently bought filters.

The location is Poll Gorm near Myrtleville, Co. Cork, a nice rugged, rocky area. The setup was manual, on a tripod with a Lee “Little Stopper” filter (6 stops), to allow a long exposure to blur the water motion, and a 2 stop Lee graduated filter to control the highlights in the sky. The camera settings were f/11, ISO 100 and an 8-second exposure.

I tried a few shots from different positions but I chose this one mainly because I liked the light on the rocks in the foreground.

– Kevin O’Brien

How I Took That Shot – John Tait

John Tait took first place in Grade A with this shot in our recent ‘Festive’ competition. This is how he made the image:

Having received the usual reminder email, exhorting us all to get our
entries in on time for our “Festive” competition, I began to panic. I
had nothing!…. I had no valid excuse either, as Christmas was just
over, so most normal photographers would have lots of shots of Christmas
trees. Santa Claus. Christmas pud…Carol singers etc, etc. But I had
nothing at all, as I had spent most of Christmas chasing wildlife
shots… Then I had a Eureka moment!

I had been up in Co Laois with Dave Harris, trying to get
shots of a Pine Marten. As we sat in a tiny hide for about two hours,
waiting for our Pine marten to appear, boredom had us searching the
trees and undergrowth for something else to photograph. After shooting a
Robin, a couple of Chaffinches and other small birds, I suddenly spotted
a Blackbird perched high in a Holly tree. The Holly tree had lots of
berries, and the Blackbird was feasting on these. I took a couple of
shots of the bird with a juicy berry in his beak and promptly forgot all
about him, as the Pine Marten suddenly made an appearance. My camera
settings on the day were as follows.

Everything set to manual except for
ISO which was on Auto. Shutter speed would be not slower than 1/1000,
and Aperture f6.3. F6.3 is the largest Aperture that I can set the
camera to when using my Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens. I would also have
set my exposure compensation to +1 or +2 stops, so as to expose for the
bird against the much brighter sky. Without this compensation, I would
have had only a silhouette, and no detail in the bird.

Luckily, I remembered my “festive Blackbird” just in time to pop
it into Lightroom for a quick crop, and a couple of tweaks before
sending it off for the competition.

– John Tait

Well done John!

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

How I Took That Shot – Noelle Lowney

Noelle Lowney took first place in Grade B in our recent ‘Festive’ competition. No stranger to the winners’ podium, this is how she made the image:

The image was taken on a cold December evening in Cobh in the run-up to Christmas. On my hunt for an appropriate image that was representative of a Festive theme, I came across an unusual Christmas Tree situated off the main street in Cobh next to the Lusitania monument. When I looked at the position of the tree with the CatherdaI slightly above it I thought it would make an interesting shot. I put my camera on a tripod and attached a remote control for the long exposure. After many takes, I settled on this image.

The image was taken on a Canon 7D Mark II with a 55m to 250m lens. Camera settings were ISO 125, Shutter speed 18 seconds and F18.

– Noelle Lowney

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

How I Took That Shot – Neil O’Carroll

Though reminiscent of an event in an exotic, faraway place, Neil O’Carroll’s winning image in Grade C in our recent ‘Festive’ competition was, in fact, shot in Dublin Zoo! This was Neil’s first appearance on the podium and to take first place was a fantastic achievement. This is how he made the shot:

The photo was taken at Dublin Zoo Christmas Chinese Lantern Display on December 13, 2017.

(Display was open every night from 5.30pm to 9pm commenced in late November until 6th January. It is planned to return again for Christmas 2018)

Camera used–Canon EOS 70D – handheld.

1/50 sec; f4.5; 35mm; iso500.

Minimal post editing — slight cropping & removal stray lights in the background.

– Neil O’Carroll

Well done Neil!

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

How I Took That Shot – Finbarr O’Shea

Finbarr O’Shea LIPF, took first place in Grade A and first overall also in our recent ‘Selfie’ competition with the clever image above. This is how he made the shot:

My selfie picture for last week’s competition was a bit of struggle as my first plan didn’t workout so, with a day to go to the deadline, I had to come up with plan B. My new plan was a selfie with a silhouette picture in front of my face.

I took some silhouette head and shoulder shots, with the intention of using the best image. To take the pictures, I stood in front of a white wall with a flash at my back, I set the camera at f22, 1/200 sec. at ISO 100 using at 24-70 mm at 35mm.using the 10 sec timer. I then printed 4 pictures, so instead of 1 picture in front of my face I decided to use the other three as well. That is where the string and pegs came in to play.

So for the final shot with the the 3 prints pegged in place and I holding the 4th print in front of my face, with the flash repositioned to the front, I was then ready for action. I set the camera this time at f11, 1/200, ISO 100 using the 24-70mm at 45mm on a 10 sec timer. I held a cable plunger in my right hand for effect .

After many shots taken, this was the end result.

What a fantastic concept and execution. Well worth its final placings. Well done Finbarr.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition.