Portugal – Ciaran Buckley Photography

The Fireworks display for Queima Das Fitas in Coimbra.

Last week in Coimbra it was the student festival of Queima Das Fitas, its week long festival with lots of parties and drinking(kinda similar to RAG week in Irish Colleges). At the end of the week there was fire works display. I managed to get some pictures of the fireworks that I was happy with, they are the best but they aren’t the worst pictures I’ve taken, I hope you enjoy them.

If I was doing it again I would set up my camera closer to the left bank of the river to get a better view of the city but I guess there is nothing that I can do about it now.

So let me know what you think of my pictures and feel free to share them with friends and co-workers.

Peace and Love,

Ciaran.

May 15, 2017 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Landscape, night time PhotographyTags: architecture, canon Photography, canon1200d, coimbra, Darktable, Digital Photography, Dusk, Filters, fire, Fire effect, fireworks, golden hour, landscape Photography, Long Exposure, Long Exposure Photography, Mondego River, night, night time, night time Photography, Nightscape, parque verde, Photography, Portugal, Queima Das Fitas, Reflection, Rio Mondego, River, Sunset, Universidade De Coimbra, Water 1 Comment

Blue Team Vs Red Team. A Tale of dragonflies.

Hello again my friends and enemies, the subject of todays post is dragonflies. In the last few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to spot a few of these colourful bastards hanging around the ponds and still waters of Coimbra. They move through the air pretty damn fast so it was difficult to get pictures of them in flight so I just went with the lazy option and waited till they land.

Blue Team.

Red Team:

So let me know what you think of them and feel free to share them with friends and co-workers.

Peace and Love,

Ciaran.

P.S. After a little bit of research I think all the dragonflies in my pictures are male, as males tend to perch on things and watch while the females fly around depositing eggs. And I think the red ones are called Red-Veined Darters and the blue ones are called blue dashers but hopefully an expert can tell me if I’m right or wrong about my research.

P.P.S I just found out that the blue team is actually damselflies not blue dashers. Lesson Learned.

May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Animal Photogrpahy, insects, Wildlife PhotographyTags: Animals, blue dasher, blue dragon fly, coimbra, cute, Digital Photography, dragonfly, fragon fly, Garden, insect, insects, Jardim Botanico De Coimbra, Macro, parque verde, Photography, Portugal, red Dragonfly, red veined darter, Reflection, Rio Mondego, wildlife, Wildlife Photography, winged beasts, wings Leave a comment

Its not easy being green.

There is a pond in the Jardim Botanico in Coimbra and in that pond is a load of frogs. The frogs are photogenic if you are willing to sit there are wait for them to start striking poses. I hope you enjoy the pics of my Amphibian Friends.

Just a frog sunbathing in the Jardim Botanico in Coimbra.

A frog under a leaf in a pond.

A frog on a leaf in a pond.

A frog lurking on a leaf in a pond.

Just a frog sunbathing in the Jardim Botanico in Coimbra.

A winking frog

I was able to get some nice shots of them in a quiet times of reflection.

A frog on a leaf in a pond.

A frog under a leaf in a pond.

And for the last few days they have been really noisy and puffing their cheeks a lot.

Chubby cheeks

The frog is doing push ups.

This frog is doing his best impression of Princess Leia with the bun.

I think he is either showing off to the lady frogs or trying to scare off the male competition.

Well thats the end of it today, so let me know what you think of them and feel free to share them with friends and co-workers.

Peace and Love,

Ciaran.

P.S If anyone can explain the difference between a frog and toad that would be great, I’m too lazy to google it.

April 12, 2017 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Animal PhotogrpahyTags: Amphibian, Amphibian Friends, Animal Photographer, Animal Photography, Animals, coimbra, Digital Photography, Frogs, Jardim Botanico De Coimbra, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, pond, pond dwellers, Portugal, toad, toads, wildlife, Wildlife Photography Leave a comment

Birds Part II, the quest for plumage.

For the last few months I’ve been trying to get out into nature and move as silently as possible so that I can get some decent pictures of birds. Compared to my previous post I made about birds I think these pictures are of a higher standard, I hope you enjoy them.

A tit in the sunshine.

A blue tit on a branch

Not sure what this bird is.

a chaffinch hanging around in the garden

The mighty crow looking handsome.

The mighty crow looking handsome.

It turns out that Robins are pretty comfortable in front of the camera and enjoy having their picture taken.

The mighty Robin looking handsome.

The mighty Robin looking handsome.

The mighty Robin resting on a wire.

The robin red breast hiding in some underbrush.

The mighty Robin looking handsome.

The mighty Robin looking handsome with his feathers looking puffed.

Seagulls are an interesting bunch, I always think that if they could speak they would hassle you for cigarettes.

The notoriously camera shy seagull turns his back on me.

A flock of gulls.

I’ll take you under my wing(quite literally) and teach you to be a fully fledged member of seagull society.

an faoileán

I never knew starlings would be so so photogenic, I was really happy with how the last starling picture turned out.

I really hope you get as much enjoyment out of looking at these pictures as I got out of taking them, well anyways that is enough rambling out of me so let me know what you think in the comments.

Also I’ve gotten quite lazy with posting to the blog recently so I’ll do my best to get the thumb out, keep it out and post more regularly.

Peace and Love,

The Great Hairy One.

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Animal Photogrpahy, birds, Nature, UncategorizedTags: Animal Photographer, Animal Photography, Animals, Avian, bird, blue tit, budgie, canon Photography, canon1200d, chaffinch, Common Irish Birds, crow, crows, Digital Photography, flock, Garden Birds, Irish Wildlife, Life in the Undergrowth, Park, parque chopal, Photography, plumage, Portugal, Rio Mondego, robin, robin red breast, seagull, starling, starlings, wings Leave a comment

Rings of Fire.

The other night I attempted to channel the spirit of the late great Johnny Cash by making my very own ring of fire, I think I was relatively successful.

light painting steelwool — When the ring of fire appeared an ethereal shaped started to appear at the Piano keyboard

I really hope you get as much enjoyment out of looking at these pictures as I got out of taking them, well anyways that is enough rambling out of me so let me know what you think in the comments.

Peace and Love,

Ciaran.

P.S. I just realized that Johnny Cash didn’t actually play the piano, so it would appear that I was unable to summon Mr Cash, I’m not exactly sure who the pianist is.

December 7, 2016December 9, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: light Painting, night time Photography, Steel WoolTags: 30 Second Exposure, art, canon Photography, canon1200d, coimbra, Digital Photography, ethereal, fire, Fire effect, FirePorn, Foxy Prophet, light Painting, Light Painting Phototgraphy, Long Exposure, Long Exposure Photography, Man In Black, Mondego River, night time, night time Photography, No Photoshop, Photography, piano, Portugal, red light, Ring of Fire, Rio Mondego, sparks, Spinning, Steel Wool, Street Lights, summoning, The Foxy Prophet, Twlight 2 Comments

Coimbra, the city of Hills.

These are some of the picture of Coimbra that I have taken in the last few weeks. Its a really cool city but incredibly hilly which doesn’t agree with my feeble legs. But apart from the hills it has a really nice Botanical Garden, one of the Oldest Universities in the land and some nice parks and views so all in all its not a bad place to live.

Some ducks going for an evening stroll on the Mondego River.

This guy(or girl) lives in a pond in the Botanical Gardens in the University of Coimbra

for some reason this rose was growing upside down

a seagull swooping down to catch a fish

a statue of Queen Isabella looking out over Coimbra

The view from the top of one of the many hills in Coimbra

The Clock tower in the university

The view from the University as the sun sets.

One of the many churches in Coimbra

The university of Coimbra in the sunshine.

Parque Verde Street Lights — A slow exposure shot of the trees in the lights in the park to get the star effect.

Rio Mondego Sunset Blue Skys — The Mondego river just before sunset

Sunset Parque Verde Coimbra — The walkway next to Mondego River river just as the sun is setting.

Rio Mondego Golden Hour — The Mondego River just after the sun has gone behind the hills

I really hope you enjoyed these picture, I was really happy with how they turned out but they are by no means perfect and my quest to take a perfect picture goes on. That is enough from me for now let me know what you think in the comments and feel free to share them with your pets or whom ever you think might enjoy them.

Peace and Love,

The Foxy Prophet.

December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Animal Photogrpahy, birds, Landscape, Nature, night time Photography, UncategorizedTags: Animals, bird, Blue Sky, canon Photography, canon1200d, Church, coimbra, Digital Photography, Ducks, Dusk, Flower Photography, Flower Power, golden hour, Jardim Botanico De Coimbra, Leading Lines, Light Pollution, Long Exposure, Long Exposure Photography, Mondego River, night time, night time Photography, Photography, Portugal, Queen Isabella, Reflection, Rio Mondego, River, seagull, Statue, Street Lights, Trees, Water Leave a comment

Lightning, Sparks and the Night Sky.

So for the last few weeks I’ve been taking a lot of walks in the evening with my camera trying to get pictures around dusk when the light is just right. Sometimes you get lucky with the right combination of light, clouds, street lamps and water, here are some picture of those times.

The sun is either going up or coming down in this one I can’t remember which.

Deep Blue

The full moon using my new zoom lens 🙂

Night time in rock ppol near Paço De Arcos

Just after sunset

The sea was angry that night

Night time long exposure on the beach

Sometimes when the light isn’t quite right you have to make your own light, to do this all you have to do is get some steel wool like the kind you use for scrubbing pots and pans, set it on fire whirl it around like you have never whirled before.

Steel wool fire and the night sky.

I kind of panicked a little with this one and just started spinning it anyway I could

Steel Wool Spinning

One of my first attempts at steel wool spinning

Then other times you get really lucky and you managed to catch lightning striking, so luck in fact that you catch it twice.

I took like 80 pictures that night trying to catch the lightning and only managed to get like 2 decent pictures. This one I think is only okay.

I think this is my favorite picture that I have ever taken.

I really hope you enjoyed these picture, they are by no means perfect and there is still plenty of room for improvement but I was really happy with how they turned out. As always I hope you enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think in the comments.

Peace and Love,

The Foxy Prophet.

October 26, 2016October 27, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: light Painting, night time Photography, The Golden Hour, UncategorizedTags: art, Atlantic Ocean, Beach, canon Photography, canon1200d, Digital Photography, Dusk, fire, golden hour, light Painting, Light Painting Phototgraphy, Lightening, Lisbon, Long Exposure, Long Exposure Photography, night, night time, night time Photography, Nightscape, Ocean, orbs, Paco De Arcos, Photography, Portugal, sparks, Spinning, spirals, Steel Wool 4 Comments

Friends of the Ornithological Variety.

A-well-a ev’rybody’s heard about the bird bird bird bird
B-bird’s the word oh well-a bird bird bird
Bird is a word oh well-a bird bird bird
Well-a bird is the word oh well-a bird bird bird

If you are still reading this fair play to you, I was going to put the full set of lyrics to that song but I don’t think anybody wants that. So if you haven’t guessed by now today lesson is being brought to you by the letter B for bird.

I hope you enjoyed the picture of these feathered fiends, let me know what you thought of them in the comments below.

Peace and Love,

The Foxy Prophet.

October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Animal Photogrpahy, birds, NatureTags: Animals, Atlantic Ocean, bird, Budgerigar, budgie, canon Photography, canon1200d, Digital Photography, flock, flying v, Paco De Arcos, Park, Photography, pigeon, pigeons, Portugal, Sea, seagull, wings 3 Comments

The Golden Hour.

So the for the past few days I’ve been trying to make use of the Golden Hour, this the hour before and after dawn or dusk. The dusk one is pretty easy but for dawn I’ve actually had to use an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings which is something that I’m really not used to doing, but I think it was worth getting out of bed for.

The bridge in the distance is the Ponte Vinte Cinco De Abril(25 of April Bridge)

The orange light of the sunrise is reflecting off the white bricks.

This is the Torre De Belem

The bridge is named after the date of the Carnation Revolution

The building here is the part of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos(Jerónimos Monastary))

The River in this pictures is the Rio Tejo(Tagus River)

You can jsut about see the Torre de Belem in the background. This picture was taken in Paço De Arcos.

I hope you liked the pictures, I was pretty happy with how they turned out let me know what you think in the comments below.

Peace & Love,

The Great Hairy One.

October 3, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Architectural Photography, The Golden HourTags: architecture, art, belem tower, canon Photography, canon1200d, Digital Photography, golden hour, Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon, Paco De Arcos, Photography, ponte vinte e cinco abril, Portugal, sun, sunrise, sunshine, torre de belem Leave a comment

My Flower Power is greater than your Glower Power.

Hopefully these will bring some colour into your life.Some these were taken in the Jardim Botanico de Coimbra, some were in various parks and gardens around Portugal and some of them were taken in back garden at home.

I think she looks like a bit of a creep

accidentally took a picture of a dead one 😦

weird little red things that were growing out the rocks

stupid fly ruined a nice picture

they look like sweets

its like everytime I post something a cat finds a way of sneaking in

bamboo

Thanks for taking the time to look at the pictures, let me know what you think in the comments below.

September 29, 2016 by ciaranbuckleyphotography Categories: Flowers, NatureTags: art wanker, bamboo, Botanical Garden, Botanics, canon Photography, canon1200d, coimbra, Flower, Flower Photography, Flower Porn, Flower Power, FlowerPorn, Flowers, Garden, Glower Power, Ireland, Jardim Botanico De Coimbra, Macro, Macro Photo, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Portugal, purple flower, red, red flower, rose, summer, sun, yellow, yellow Flower 4 Comments

Night Time Photography in Belmonte.

I went for a drive around the mountains in Belmonte in Portugal last Saturday here is some of the pictures I took. It was great to be able to get away from the lights of the city and take some pictures of the night sky.

i like this because you can see that someone was standing in the frame for a few seconds

this was taken higher ISO and the light pollution on the horizon makes it look like its dawn

this is the moon disappearing behind some trees,

As it was so dark I decided to try and do some light painting too.

I was really happy with how this turned out

it was cool to have a partner so that I could paint the scences better.

On the way home I though I would try to take some long exposure shots in a moving car. I had never tried it before so I wanted to see how it would turn out.