Typical Irish weather :)

[agaace]

A new one from today - typical Irish weather: sun on the left, clouds and rain on the right

(Click the image for a 720px version)


Canon EOS 40D + Canon EFS 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 16mm, 1/400, f/7.1, ISO 100, handheld

Unfortunately, this is the only shot I took on this trip. I had a very unpleasant adventure that made me give up todays sunrise shots, and maybe even shooting overall for some time.. I was driving to this beautiful beach for sunrise shooting this morning, it was still completely dark and all the surrounding villages dead with no signs of life (after season = no tourists = dead silence). Some idiots spotted me driving alone at night and tried to stop my car in the middle of nowhere, by chasing my tail, blinding with long lights, taking over and blocking. I think I only managed to get rid of them because I used to play Grand Theft Auto in my teens. Seriously, I'd never thought I had this good driving skills by taking 80kph bends at 140 kph, and that I could do the U-turn maneuvre so quickly. God save manual transmission! They had a faster car, so I used a petrol station + the wrong side of the road trick to leave them behind and they were amateur enough to let me escape. God only knows what'd happen if they'd managed to block me on one of those narrow 1-lane countryside roads.. I heard so many stories about what happened to those drivers, especially female drivers..
Anyway, I'll double think next time when I want to drive anywhere alone at night. I think I need a photo/travel companion.. if only I had a traveling photographer friend.. my friends are not willing to wake up for sunrise when we travel together *sigh*

[Dave Humphries]

What is the world coming to?

Agata,

That must have been quite scary ( an understatement), I hope you're recovering from the shock ok.
It is the sort of thing that can have an effect long after the event, which is why it should be discouraged in the strongest possible manner. By the authorities, of course. Sadly, I suspect that rarely happens.

Obviously we don't want one isolated(?) incident to put you off, but equally, if it's that unsafe, we don't want anything even nastier to happen.

Unfortunately the best defence to such people is not generally available and is more liable to land you in trouble!

I'd like a photographer companion too, but not for these reasons, I fear I wouldn't have been much help, my bodyguarding days are over - unless I sat on them

Bad start to the day, and I bet the pot of gold wasn't at the end of the rainbow either!
That would make a good shot for the weather forecasters to stand in front of.

[Alis]

Hi Agata,

I was actually talking to my wife and a friend about this a few days ago, as I am getting my gear ready to get into landscape photography. I was thinking how am going to take all those gear with me (worth more than 6000 grand) and go somewhere alone in complete darkness and wait for the sunrise or stay out after sunrise? And honestly, it does not matter if you are male or female. They may not even notice that before you are dead, so it is the same risk for us too. Specially in US, that is a bigger danger. And it is not just because you carry expensive gear. Just being out at that time alone is the problem.

[Steve S]

Wow, that is completely nuts Glad you're OK!

You need to get yourself a GUN! Several thousand in equipment, out in the middle of nowhere, makes you an easy target.

[larsjames]

So sorry for your bad situation. I've visited Ireland 4 times and love this country, but idiots know no boundaries. Here in Montana this would rarely occur, but can recommend bear spray, a non-lethal pepper-based solution which will stop a 1,000 pound bear (and creeps from from any country) in their tracks at 5 meters.

[agaace]

Yes, I think, except for when my mom was taken to the hospital in a very bad condition, I've never been so scared in my entire life. All the way back home I was obsessive about any lights I saw in my rear mirror. When I finally got off the car I was all shaking.
Ireland generally is an extremely safe place with extremely friendly people, and I'm never scared here of anything - walking alone at night or whatever. I feel safer than in my own country. But on the other hand, I had radio on that night, and there were news about a guy who died in the hospital after being stabbed, some other guy got shot in another city, so these things happen even in a such a safe place. Even if they happen 1000 times less frequently than in other countries, it doesn't really matter if it happens to me.. Now I'm trying to convince myself, those were just local youngsters who are bored and just like to play this game and scare people. And that they didn't have bad intentions. Because they weren't professional - if they were, they'd call their friends and there would be another car blocking me from the other side of the road (and so I was freaking out about any car coming from the opposite direction). But in a situation like that you never know.. and you are just deadly scared and you don't think. The instinct turns on. Normally I'm a safe driving freak, and I go 120-140kpm on a highway, but I don't go crazy on narrow roads. But believe me or not, in a situation where you are chased by someone who potentially wants your car (less than 1 year old shiny, comfy and packed with electronics Nissan Note - you can tell the age of the car in Ireland from the plates, they have the year of first registration as part of the registration number, and rental companies have only new cars), camera gear, laptop, gps and maybe even to hurt you, you stop thinking about that you might actually not make the bend and fall down the cliffs. All you think about is to just run away and you are able to break any limits you thought you had. Instinct. Too bad my instinct didn't tell me to try to read and remember their plate numbers, so I could at least report it to the police. Police.. yeah.. they are never there when you need them.
Anyway, I learned my lesson. Even the wildest nature in the most remote place is peacful and won't hurt me. It's the people who can and who sometimes want to hurt me. It's funny how other animals attack only animals of other species, and usually protect themselves. Humans on the other hand kill each other, even with no reasonable profit.

Back to the photo. I don't really like the cyan sky. Normally I saturate photos a bit, this was the first case that I had to desaturate the original - the sky was way way too cyan. The rainbow was really vibrant, but they always look so lifeless in photos. Any good tips to make a rainbow look more colorful without oversaturating the photo?

[Colin Southern]

Wow - I'm quite shocked to read all of that Agata. Are you OK? Did the police get involved?

I personally regard a cell phone as standard equipment for my shoots - but I have to admit, that even in New Zealand this type of thing is still a worry - I'm no "action man / hero" and I've had my share of "shady looking characters" walk by on beaches / footpaths; but thankfully nothing's come of it so far.

Interestingly, I read a report of what sounds like almost exactly the same thing happening over here a few months ago - drug-crazed lunatic rammed a couple in their car. The irony was that once they got away he managed to stop a lady in her car - I'm not sure what she said to him, but when she'd finished he apologised and drove away! That's one lady I'd like to meet!

Anyway - BIG HUG from me - hope the police got involved - hope your OK - and hope the perpetrators are currently reflecting on the errors of their ways from a prison cell.

[Colin Southern]

Any good tips to make a rainbow look more colorful without oversaturating the photo?

Yes

White balance the image so that the clouds are neutral, and then wipe over the rainbow with the sponge tool set to saturate.

[agaace]

Wow, you're a magician Colin.. you can even see the delicate, second outer rainbow now!
The conclusion is I need a HELLA LOT of Photoshop training.. I can see there's a lot of doable stuff I'm simply not able to achieve..

[Colin Southern]

Wow, you're a magician Colin.. you can even see the delicate, second outer rainbow now!
The conclusion is I need a HELLA LOT of Photoshop training.. I can see there's a lot of doable stuff I'm simply not able to achieve..

Nah - just a few tricks the old dog still remembers

Probably the single most important thing is to shoot these things RAW so that we have the full range of options available in processing later (often the edits I do on inline JPEGs for people are pretty ham-fisted due to lack of resolution and dynamic range).

Did you see my rainbow shot from mothers day last year?

[Donald]

We had the same weather, yesterday, in Scotland as they did in Ireland and, guess what - I saw a complete double rainbow for, I think, the first time ever. And guess who didn't have the camera with him

[GillR]

I'm really sorry to read about what happened to you, Agata, and very pleased you're safe & sound!

That's a beautiful image you're showing, and you're not the only one in the thread to appreciate Colin's advice on how to make it even better