A bright sunset behind deep cloud over the Atlantic fades to blue as night sets in on Ireland's west coast, the Wild Atlantic Way.

And it was a wild night on the Atlantic with the wind blowing, clouds forming and the cold spread of night after a long day of photography of Ireland's wild landscapes.

This was not a disappointing scene, rather one of joy and delight as the texture and colour of the Irish sky at blue hour made for fine scenes to finish a day of photography.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way with a Panoramic Ireland Photography Workshop / Tour in 2024 or 2025.

A recent visit to the Antrim Coast, one of the finest sections of coast in the world, saw me heading off to Rathlin Island pictured to the left in this image.

A quiet evening with a little cloud, and unusually for the Antrim Coast, little wind, saw some colour and movement in the scene as golden hour gave way to blue hour.

There was little to stop me from staying here photographing this scene for the night except for an early start the following morning.

An hour or so of changing conditions and changing my viewpoint up and down this short stretch of coastline allowed me to photograph a specific image. then to bed and ready for the next morning.

Visiting Ireland? Join me to photograph on the Antrim Coast, in Dublin or in Connemara during 2023.

Blue hour in Dublin, photographing the city's modern riverfront skyline.

The River Liffey east of the city centre has changed substantially in the past 15 years. Formerly the quays here were flanked by red-brick Victorian warehouses of only a few storeys high as can be seen in the middle section of the image here.

Now, new buildings line the river and, although not lofty, their scale does eclipse those old warehouses.

The colour here from the buildings suiting the blue hour's natural tones.

The Irish coastline is a spectacular mix of landscapes - from coastal villages to sandy beaches to rocky coast.

Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops have always covered the coast of Ireland and 2020 is no exception, join us on a photography workshop in one of these fine places to photograph blue hour and more:

Copper Coast, Waterford

Galway & Mayo

Clare

Dingle & Co. Kerry

Antrim Coast & Giant's Causeway

Dublin's Coast

Cork

Donegal

Sligo

The blue hour and golden hour that both occur every morning and evening are rightly considered by landscape photographers to be the best times of day to capture scenic landscapes.

Lasting for a short time either side of sunrise and sunset the ephemeral light is soft and colourful, sympathetic to the natural landscapes.

It's all blue by the coast, before sunrise on the coast of Ireland and the stillness and calm of the open sea is immense.

Sometimes the weather isn't what we expect in landscape photography, and weather is a big factor in determining the look of an image. So landscape photographers are not just typical moaners about the weather, it's key to creating the final piece - we would stand out in any conditions to get an image and we only complain when it's the wrong weather for what we want.

The coastline of Ireland comes in many different forms - the sandy beaches with turquoise waters, rocky headlands and coves, pebbles and stones. All of these elements make up the ever changing and ever beautiful coast of the Emerald Isle.

Here I made this image from a visit to the north coast, the rocky peaks just offshore look a little like a film set especially when seen against the post-sunset sky with its pinks and oranges fading into blue.

I have added a little post-processing to give a more mystical, moody feel to this seascape.

Join me on a photography tour and learn how to make images like these, from €220 for a private one-to-one workshop.

The Blue Hour is a classic time of day for landscape photographers to photograph. There are in fact two blue hours and both don't necessarily last for an hour.

The first blue hour precedes sunrise and the second of the day comes after sunset; wrapped inside the day there is also the golden hour that we will talk about separately.

During the evening blue hour - light is fading, the sun has set and we lose the direct brightness from our light-giving star.

Red light passes through Earth's atmosphere and further into space, while blue light with its shorter wavelength gets trapped and scattered, and bounces around to create a blue coloured period we call the Blue Hour.