A recent photo tour booking took me to Belfast and Co. Down for a photo tour with Barbara from Maine.

Barbara had been to Dublin before and wanted to go somewhere different, having spent many vacations in the usual tourist spots like the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle and Galway she wanted to see a different part of Ireland.

I suggested Northern Ireland as an alternative when she first contacted me. I grew up in Northern Ireland and I still know it very well just like the rest of Ireland. She thought this was a good idea, on visits to Ireland in the seventies and eighties she would never have considered going across the border. ‘It was never a consideration’ she told me.

She still wanted an urban based photo tour so I suggested Belfast; I described it as a changed place from what she knows it as. Like any city there are places to avoid, but tourism has really gripped the city and the rest of Northern Ireland. Belfast has a real character of its own, Barbara thought it was a good plan and we decided to meet in the early afternoon.

Today I took a good long walk through Dublin on a photo tour with an out-of-towner, Jeff from Toronto, Canada.

Jeff booked a few weeks in advance, something I always suggest you do to guarantee availability and we planned to start early in the afternoon. With sunset at 16:45 we made a plan to get some low light and night shots in the city centre.

My favourite images today came from Christchurch, it is a location that almost all visitors to Dublin visit. I usually come past here on a photo tour, and it brings me to an interesting point that because Dublin is quite a flat city it is an easy city to walk around.

Galway Bay, from Salthill at Sunrise - Long exposure photography

I had reason to be in Galway early this morning. With the shortening of the days my arrival before 06:30 meant that I was just in time to get the pre-sunrise light known as the blue hour. On this occasion I wanted to go to Salthill, to the Blackrock diving tower located just off the Promenade. It juts out into Galway Bay looking towards the mountains of Co. Clare on the other side.

The blue hour is that period just before the sun rises above the horizon when the sky and everything in general appears to be blue. It's beautiful, even if you aren't a photographer just to get up and head to the coast, or to a mountain where you have a good panoramic view of your surroundings. Try it sometime!

There is also a blue hour after sunset every evening, although I believe that the morning is undoubtedly the best - in the summer there is usually no one up and about that early, in the winter it is often very chilly and that makes you feel more motivated.

The blue hour is followed by the golden hour, after the sun rises. Neither really lasts for an hour, it's really a phrase to denote a length of time - it depends on your latitude and the time of year.

For the photographer, the low light at this time of day requires a tripod and a long exposure.

A Panorama of the Mourne Mountains at Sunset

A panorama is defined as an unbroken view of the whole region surrounding the observer. It is also a term used to refer to an image with a wide aspect ratio, in other words, an image with a ratio of more than 2:1 - twice as wide as it is high.

A spherical panorama is also known as a 360-degree panorama and an example can be seen here of a 360-degree panorama of Trinity College's Long Room Library in Dublin.

I often create panoramas and find the wider aspect very pleasing and it also solves some problems when subject matter is too wide for even a wide lens to comfortably take in.

On this evening I was headed to 'Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea'.

Take a Photography Experience in Galway

Panoramic Ireland are now taking bookings for our residential photography courses situated in Galway in the west of Ireland.

Book now for €1550 for our popular four-day workshop, half-board in a lakeside house with a maximum of three participants.

Itineraries will change depending on the weather, but every day here in the west of Ireland brings at least one great photo opportunity, and what an experience it is to spend a few days in the region, to really get to know it, and to improve your photography.

Day courses are available for €330 and longer courses can be tailored specifically for you.

I have been photographing a lot of sunsets in the past few weeks, from my native Northern Ireland to the west of Ireland.

No two sunsets are ever the same, winds pick up and clouds arrive to enhance or spoil your capture. Rain blows in sideways and spatters your filter with water droplets, the wind rattles your tripod no matter how much you try to shelter your camera your exposure is shaky.

It is tricky sometimes, but not always. Patience and perseverence are always well rewarded in photography.

This image is from sunset this evening (25/10/2013) in the west of Ireland, it is from Lough Corrib, Ireland's second largest lake.

Sometimes a day just takes you where it wants, if you let it. This day took me to the Wild Atlantic Way on Ireland's west coast.

Photo Tours in Dublin and Ireland

It's fun and exciting to lead photography tours in Dublin, meeting everyone from professional photographers to those who just enjoy taking photos.

Everyone has the ability to create a good image, and that is the basis of our photo experience in Dublin or your chosen county in Ireland.

A visit to the coast of Ireland is a pleasure to be enjoyed at all times of the year, good weather and bad.

Lovely mix of autumnal woodland colours in the urban parks of Dublin