I do enjoy visiting the famous places in Ireland, there's Kilkenny, Dingle, Dublin and the Giant's Causeway to name a few.

But I also enjoy leading photography workshops in the non-famous places here in Ireland - those places that make up the bulk of the Irish countryside such as here in the above image of a typical woodland scene in spring.

Light is important in photography, especially in landscape photography.

I have written about the difference in light and its effects on the look and feel of a landscape image here.

The two images in this post is from one of my favourite places in Ireland, the west coast - taken two nights apart.

The West of Ireland - what does it conjure up in your imagination?

For me, the imagination is real, a place I visit and explore and enjoy and live in often. Those wide open spaces, rugged mountains of weathered rock just holding their own against the creeping boglands that cover the region.

This is a scene that conveys that western image, the bogland looking russety and the mountains just as I described above, ancient and just protruding enough to catch low cloud seemingly wisping across the gentle slopes.

Crepuscular rays shining from behind late evening clouds in the west of Ireland

Towards sunset or sunrise as the angle of sunlight is low in the sky, rays shining across the sky illuminating dust in the atmosphere create crepuscular rays, a series of parallel beams of light that appear to converge on or indeed emerge from the sun.

The upper rays seen here, beaming across the sky are crepuscular rays.

Bright and characterful sunset sunlight on Ireland's Atlantic Ocean.

This image comes from the western edge of the Emerald Isle as the late evening sunlight fades behind rain-bearing clouds to give dramatic lighting on the ocean's surface.

As we waited for the same sunlight to strike the Cliffs of Moher we turned our cameras toward the west and were not disappointed.

After my post yesterday showing the beauty of the lake and mountain on which Kylemore Abbey is situated here is a more focused image of the building, once the home of a wealthy London Doctor called Mitchell Henry.

Kylemore was built in the late 1860s and Mitchell Henry later went on to become MP for the area, in 1875 after the death of his wife who was from County Down he spent less time in Connemara. He built a memorial church for her which is still there today hidden amongst the woods.

In fact, Kylemore comes from the Irish Coille Móire meaning large or big wood - an unusual sight around these parts.

One of Ireland's most famous buildings, Kylemore Abbey is situated in a scenic position at the foot of a mountain surrounded by lakes.

More to come on the abbey and its history in my next post - see here: https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/kylemore-abbey-connemara-galway, for now enjoy the fine landscapes and reflections from Connemara.

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The lanes of Ireland are a favourite photographic subject of mine.

Here, the final leaves of 2018 were falling - covering the ground with russety autumnal colour as the bright sunlight shines, casting shadows and making the whole scene more enticing.

Here are a few more of my favourite laneway scenes that I have photographed over the years:

https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/an-irish-laneway-with-mountains-in-the-distance

https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/ireland-midlands-laneway-colour-sunset-sky-landscape-photography

https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/irish-laneways-look-colourful-as-autumn-gives-way-to-winter

Join me on a photography day course at Northern Ireland's fine Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Learn more about when to use various settings on your camera - Av / Tv or S / M and how to choose which settings given the conditions.

Learn how to use filters, specifically for coastal landscapes and how to plan for the weather.

The schedule is varied depending on the season, weather on the day and due to other factors but we will organise the day to suit each of these elements.

I have been photographing rainbows a lot of late, with the recent stormy weather here in Ireland.

Here is one of those rainbows from a recent post from Dublin's Portobello: https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/rainbow-portobello-dublin

And here another from Dublin in this Facebook post:

Here you can see the colour range that we get with rainbows - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Enjoy the rainbows.