Due to other commitments I’m falling behind in my posts but here is one to keep things going. Autumn leaves in Dublin’s St Stephens Green.

Yesterday was Arthurs Day in Dublin. A celebration (maunfactured) to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the lease for the Guinness Brewery. A 9000 year lease at £45 a year, a pretty good deal. I decided to wander down to the Guinness Brewery to see what going on, very little really. Most of the events were ticket only but I did get into one pub in time for 17:59 when the people around the world toasted Arthur.

The underside of the Fusiliers Arch which is the main entrance to St Stephens Green. Built to commemorate the 212 soldiers from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Boer War. I’ve walked under the arch hundreds of times but am afraid that I have only looked up at the names a handful of times.

I’ve been playing with Lightroom presets again. There are hundreds of free ones available on line and they produce a variety of effects. Some awful some brilliant. At the very least they serve as a starting point. Download a preset see what it does, figure out how it does it and how to do something similar but better suited to your own photographs.

Following on from the previous post I have a copy of the cathedral photograph in simple black and white. At the moment I prefer the sepia one but that could just be the fact that I am used to them. I also think the photos look better in Lightroom before I export them and compared to the prints the photos on the blog seem a little bland. I think I need to learn more about exporting photographs for use on the web. Also I think I need to get a device to calibrate my screen.

I’ve started to look at the photos I used for Peoples Photo 2009 and try to fill some gaps. It seemed the photos that sold were photos of Dublin landmarks and I was asked if I had photos of things like the Ha’penny Bridge. I didnt really so I’ve decided that I need to do a couple of things over the next year.

First I need to fill the gaps. Take photos of things that I don’t already have photos of. That’s not to say that I don’t have any photos of places like St Patricks Cathedral or the Ha’Penny Bridge but that I’ve only got basic photos that are not up to scratch. Two weeks ago I got a photo of the bridge, this week I wandered around St Patricks Cathedral to try and figure out what I wanted to take photos of. I did snap some and I intend on going back with a tripod to try and get some nice photos of the cathedral. I was lucky to get there last week when there were still flowers in the garden. I hope when I go there next time there will be new ones planted though with winter coming. I may have to wait until next spring for some nice flowers to put in the foreground.

Secondly I need to decide if I want to continue with the sepia effect. It stood out but I don’t want to just have sepia photos and nothing else. Some nice black and white and long exposure photos might be in order.