Mount Usher Gardens, Ashford, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, October 2008

[ranunculus]

A question for Cliff re photography: this was a particularly difficult day for taking photographs as the light at river level was quite dull while the light at treetop level was very bright indeed, so a huge contrast between top and bottom of photographs so that the river level would be underexposed or the treetop level overexposed. Any suggestions on how to cope with this? I know there is a graduated filter available but haven't used such yet. The suspension bridge photograph was one of the easier ones to take as there was no need to take in the sky, so the light was evenly balanced throughout the frame.

Hi Paddy,
I suffered similar conditions at Bodnant - the dell, lake and stream sides were incredibly dark while the sky was ablaze with autumn sun - most of the autumn colour in the canopy and at eye level was diluted and bleached.  It is a difficult situation, but occasionally it can be turned to your advantage (as you cleverly discovered with many of your lovely images).  I have no instant solutions for you - I simply move my viewpoint until I get the greatest control.  I am not a trained photographer, most of my images are intuitive and I just try to use available light to my best advantage. Sorry I can't be of more assistance, but from your subsequent images you don't appear to need any help whatsoever.
Cheers,
Cliff 

[Paddy Tobin]

Cliff,

Many thanks for the reply. I know of some people who use some sort of graduated filter which blocks out some of  the light in the sky and allows whatever light is available lower down through balancing out the contrasting extremes and allowing, especially, to give better skies in shots. As you say, I simply frame the photographs to avoid the extremes as best possible. We can only do what we can.

Many thanks, Paddy