This dilapidated sign on Market Street in Ballycastle points to a shop which appears to no longer exist.

I’m a little confused as to what the word after “shop” is meant to be. Either it said “shopiooyds” or it said “shop ooyds”, neither of which make any sense to me. Perhaps it’s a Ballycastle thing.

I’m a little concerned I didn’t get the focus quite right in this photo. I shot with an aperture of f/2.0 which should have given me a little breathing room. I’m wondering is my vague sense of blurriness actually just the sign being so old and covered with algae. I was also a little torn as to whether this would be better in black & white. I think it is, if nothing else for emphasising the age of the sign.

I hope you like it, any thoughts or critiques, please feel free to leave a comment.

Pieces of broken bottle glass found in various locations attached to a plaster sculpture.

The weather was horrendous today and I just couldn’t face up to going outside and attempting to take photos.

So for the first time this year I didn’t make it for a 2km walk. It was bound to happen. It’s difficult to find spots to take photos in the rain here in Ballycastle.

Anyway, I did a little tour of my flat and took this close-up photo of a sculpture  Adrianna made a while ago.

This foot bridge at the easterly end of Ballycastle’s beach leads out to a rough outcrop of rocks which is constantly exposed to the mercy of the sea.

Generally you can get over to this foot bridge without getting your feet wet, but today I needed to time my movements with the lowest ebb of the incoming waves to get out to it to let me take a few photos a little closer to the waves (but at a safe distance I assure you).

I felt it was quite beautiful contrasted against the bright white of the thrashing surf.

As it was the end of the day I had to use a wider aperture than I would have liked, but I think this photo has come out ok.

What do you think?

A swinging tire is suspended from this large chunk of steel in the playground near my apartment. It’s one of those shapes that always draws my eye when I walk past it and I think I could take quite a few photos from different angles before I got bored of it.

I’m not entirely sure about this photo. I like the shapes created by the silhouette of metal, but I’m not sure whether the over-exposed sun at the centre is a bit too much or not.

I pushed the blacks a fair bit in this one, and slightly darked the blues to match what I was seeing when I took the photo. Hopefully it appeals to someone!

A church in Ballycastle shows a small glimmer of light from inside illuminating the stained glass.

There’s actually quite a few churches in Ballycastle. I haven’t worked out which ones belong to what religion, but they’re always pleasant to photograph. I’ve already featured some photos of statues at the front of this church.

The church looking out over the diamond in Ballycastle is fairly well illuminated at night.

This photo is taken from the entrance to the co-operative supermarket car park.

Initially I switched this to black and white to get away from the colour toning influence of the street lamps, but quickly realised it had a lot more impact this way.

I can’t decide if the out of focus tree branch is a good thing, I think it is. I certainly took this photo after purposefully positioning myself to have the tree branch framing the clock face.

The joy of my extra wide aperture on the Canon 50mm lens meant that I could shoot this night shot at 1600 ISO and only drop the shutter speed to 1/80. Slower than I usually try to shoot at, but I think it worked out ok. I probably could have worked out at a way to get the gorilla pod tripod up onto the wall, but I guess the cold was urging me to keep moving.

One of a number of gravestones at the abbey outside Ballycastle which is in honour of an unknown sailor of the merchant navy. There were poppy decorations recently laid on the ground in front of these gravestones.

It felt apt to process this photo in black and white for some reason. Even though this photo was shot with an aperture of f/2.8, there’s still quite a noticeable depth of field going on. Hopefully not too much!

Please feel free to make suggestions or comments below.

My first proper HDR composition, in black and white. This shot showing Rathlin Island in its entirety is taken from the cliffs off Clare Road, just a little bit west of Ballycastle.

The skies were impressive, and my recent present of a “Gorilla Pod” tripod was whisked out of the bag and brought to use for a bracketed photograph whilst nestled in the grass at the top of the cliff. With the aperture as narrow as possible (f/22), I took three shots at 1/4, 1/15, and 1/60 shutter speeds.

After some attempts with processing the HDR in Photoshop, I gave in and tested HDR Efex Pro by Nik Software. I had done some previous tests with Photomatix but wasn’t so happy with the results. HDR Efex Pro seems to offer better controls and I think I might be using it a good bit more.

I tend to prefer the more natural end of the HDR spectrum and hopefully I haven’t pushed this photo too much. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

As dusk sets in, Ballycastle’s lights start to flicker into life.

This tree is still sporting the decorations from Christmas, unless it’s become a year round feature.

These trees, and their lights, line the seafront in Ballycastle. I’m looking forward to spring, when they start to show some greenery and make the seafront a little more friendly against the wind coming in off the North Atlantic Ocean.

I do wish I’d taken this photo with my tripod to allow a slightly better ISO and a narrower aperture, but I didn’t think of it at the time (possibly it was a little too cold to be lingering). I do have a handy little Gorrila Pod tripod that I carry with me at all times and I must get into the habit of using it more often.

Shot on Fairhill Street in Ballycastle, a close up of some razor wire.

I can only assume that someone used this fabric to help them get over unharmed.

Any future attempts at disentangling said fabric from said razor wire were obviously embarked upon without enough vigour or determination.

I can’t decide if I got the depth of field just right on this photo, or if it was a touch too shallow. I’d welcome any thoughts or feedback in the comments below.