As I mentioned in my previous post, I visited Dublin after two years. I spent a whole week wandering around its beautiful streets and parks, remembering all the good things that happened during the three years I lived in this city. It’s funny, because a lot of these good memories have something to do with the photos I took there!
During my years in Dublin, I lived most of the time very close to the water. My apartment was only a few minutes walking from the sea, the Liffey river and the Grand Canal and all the modern buildings in the city. That area was fascinating, with beautiful reflections at night. When I got my camera I started looking for a tripod very soon, because there was a type of photography that fascinated me a lot: long exposures. So you can imagine how often I went to take long exposures at night (when the rain allowed it, of course). And not only that! I showed you already how beautiful Dublin can be during the day. But that’s nothing compared to how the city looks at night!! Specially the city center, with its low golden light, the colorful traditional pubs and atmospheric streets. Photographing Dublin at night is a extraordinary experience!!
Now in Zurich I don’t live that close to the water. Even if I still love long exposure photos, sometimes it is a great effort to take all the gear (tripod, lenses, filters…) to the city center to take these photos… In summer the sun sets late, and in winter it’s too cold to wait for these photos (I still do it, specially during Christmas, when Zurich looks so beautiful… but I always end up with my fingers frozen and hurting!!). Knowing that winters in Dublin are a bit warmer than in Switzerland, I was looking forward to the opportunity to take some long exposures shots in the city! And I was very lucky with the weather!
Here are some photos I took at night during my visit in Dublin. Some are new versions of photos I took in the past (because I love these locations), and others are places that are new or I discovered a few days ago. I hope you like how Dublin transforms when the sun goes down!
The umbrellas at Anne’s Lane. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/13sec. ISO6400
Dame Street. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/11 1/25sec. ISO2000
Molly Malone. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/2.8 1/100sec. ISO2500
Dame Lane. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/25sec. ISO3200
The Bankers. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 35mm f/22 2sec. ISO100
The International. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/22 15sec. ISO100
Dame Lane. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 55mm f/22 20sec. ISO100
Temple Bar. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 42mm f/22 2sec. ISO100
The Palace Bar. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 53mm f/22 4sec. ISO100
Night at Trinity College. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/3.5 1/30sec. ISO2500
Custom house. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/22 4sec. ISO100
Dublin’s landmarks. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 38mm f/11 3.2sec. ISO100
Jeanie Johnston. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/11 6sec. ISO100
CDC building. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 31mm f/11 3.2sec. ISO100
Samuel Becket Bridge. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 30sec. ISO100
¡Me encanta la facilidad que tienes de hacer fotos tan bonitas! Haces que un día gris…¡no pueda apagar Dublín!
Muchísimas gracias, Carmen!!! Que ilusión que te haya gustado!! Facilidad para las fotos no sé si tengo, jejeje…. pero intentarlo, siempre lo intento!! 🙂 Y además, sacar Dublín bonita de noche siempre es fácil! Es una ciudad mágica cuando cae el sol! 🙂
Beautiful Mercedes. Were your older shots the ones with the higher ISO? I was just wondering which you’re using now. I prefer a low ISO and longer shutter speed when I do night shots. I wish I had the energy to stay up so I could do more! I really want to get some water shots.
Thanks a mil, Anne!!
Well, for this trip I took both cameras, but I used the old (small) one with the telephoto lens, to take photos of small things and wildlife…
For street photos I used the new one. The new camera handles higher ISO better than the small one. So I took a few handheld shots at night with high ISO. I had to do that because the lens I use with this camera doesn’t have image stabilization, so I have to compensate faster speed with higher ISO at night. But the long exposures with low ISO, I took all of them with tripod, so no need to increase the ISO and put unnecessary noise in the photo, hehehe
It’s funny, because when I was living in Dublin I never took any night photo without the tripod. The new camera came with a lot of new photo opportunities for me!! Hehehe
I love shots with water and reflections… but yes, I only take them in winter! Now that I don’t live close to “water”, I don’t want to go alone at night in summer, it’s too late!!
I just had to get back and see these beautiful images full of color and great light, even though it was done in the dark! Such a talent to find color and light in the darkness, Mercedes! Generally, I find the Spanish people to be good at it. Is this the real reason?:)))
Thanks a mil, Marina!!! I think Irish people are also great in putting color to all those grey and rainy days. Those colorful facades are one of the things that I miss most from Dublin! It’s hard to find such a beautiful combination of color and low light outside Ireland, I think… I tried the same style of photo here in Switzerland and for me, it just doesn’t work the same way… hehehe
I used to think that Norwegians don’t really make much with colors, and they need it most with their gray days. But I must say, I was not fair to them, as they like gray and black in clothing, but the facades can be really colorful, even though some of them more pastel than bright, but anyway, there many pretty houses to lay one’s eye on 🙂
Ummm I’d say that in general, people in the north do use a lot of color!! I remember Stockholm as very colorful! Well, maybe the predominant color in facades was yellow (from yellow, mustard, orange, red…) and a lot of pastel colors too… but compared to Madrid, it was quite colorful for me!!!
I guess all these things have to do a lot with the weather, the light and the personality of the region, right? Facades in Spain are a bit less colorful and people wear a lot of color…. in the north, color is on the buildings and people dress more minimalist. Do you think is there any country in the middle of these two tendencies??
Hmm, good question. That country in the middle should be Denmark, hehe. They have colorful facades though, but they are not as timid in their clothes as other Nordic people. Or maybe, it is how we, the Nordic people, see them, haha. The Danes are almost latino for some of us :))
I don’t mind colorless facades in Spain. In Barcelona they are beautiful, with lots of details, flowers, modernism. Oslo seems very plain compared to this richness, but its colors are sweet.
what about Italy?