The Giant's Cause, a photo from Antrim, Northern Ireland

Photographer's Note

Visiting the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland is a must see. We couldn't have had better lighting and better weather if we planned and organized it ourselves.

Click on the Causeway below for the Beta TE version.
CAUSEWAY.

We arrived here quite late in the day, and man, that was the best decision we could have made. The large crowds had disappeared, the large procession of tour busses with hoards of people were onto other things, there were only a few scattering of people here just before sunset.

This is one of those places where the ultra wide angle lens was just screaming at me to be used on every shot. It was fun walking around on these unique rock formations, and they're alot larger than you think.

papagolf21, ikeharel, jean113, cornejo, tyro, danos, worldcitizen, gervaso, alvaraalto, PaulVDV, adramad, s_lush, delpeoples, PiotrF, CLODO has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

papagolf21 (152605) 2016-10-08 6:40

Bonjour, cher ami Craig,
Bravo pour cette rйalisation. Le cadrage est parfait pour donner de la profondeur а l'ensemble de la composition.
Rйussite totale et entiиre.
Amitiйs.
Philippe

ikeharel (112397) 2016-10-08 6:52

Hello Craig,
It is amazing how nature made this stones creations, a beautiful hexagonal placed in some sort of orderly array.
With the cone-shaped ridge far beyond, and excellent light upon, the pic. is in fine contrast and depth.
My cong.'s and a nice weekend,
Ike

Sergiom (117241) 2016-10-08 6:57

Bonjour Craig,

J'aime beaucoup le choix du cadrage trиs prиs du sol. Il apporte avec ces roches plates une belle profondeur qui culmine avec cette falaise abrupte recouverte d'un fin duvet vert.

Bon samedi

Serge

holmertz (101946) 2016-10-08 7:56

Hello Craig,
I think this is not the most typical view of Giant's Causeway. Most people seem to find another angle, but contrary to the case with the rope bridge I think you did the right thing here. The relatively green peak in the background makes a fine contrast to the almost black field of large slabs. As far as I remember there were no huge crowds when I was here at mid-day. Of course that was 48 years ago and mass tourism hadn't quite taken off.
Best wishes,
Gert

dta (98848) 2016-10-08 8:11

hello Craig ,
This is an excellent capture of the famous Giant's Causeway .
I like the effect of the low POV and the wide angle . beautiful contrast between the dark stones and the green mountains in the BG .
regards

jean113 (27613) 2016-10-08 8:33

Hello Craig,a great point of view with the famous stones in the fg; they direct our eyes towards the green hill and the beautiful blue sky.
The light is wonderful as it highlights the size and shapes of the stone formations.
It is lovely to see the view without all the hordes of people.
Thanks for sharing, regards Jean.

cornejo (61504) 2016-10-08 8:45

Hi Craig, very good picture of this super interesting place, very well captured in this interesting image with good sharpness, depth, light, color and quality. Very good and interesting work perfectly realized, my congratulations my friend. Thanks for sharing this beautiful work.

Good afternoon and happy Sunday.
Warm greetings from southern Spain.
Angel.

Energysavingelk (7816) 2016-10-08 8:46

Hi Craig,

the same situation as everywhere: too many tourists spoil the complete impression. It seems that you were very lucky in your choice of visiting time. Great shot with an appealing light.

BTW: What is the diameter of those basalt hexagons?

Regards from Rhineland
Sven

Silvio1953 (220525) 2016-10-08 8:48

Ciao Craig, beautiful mountain landscape with fantastic geological formation, excellent clarity, fine details, splendid light and wonderful colors, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

tyro (30513) 2016-10-08 9:45

Hi Craig,

You're already onto Ireland and I'm still browsing through my pictures from Skye!

This is a brilliant photograph of the Giant's Causeway, so well composed and showing off those huge dark crystalline basalt columns in the foreground while the hill in the distance is brightly lit against a gorgeous sky.

Glorious light and colours, perfect exposure and exquisite details and sharpness. A fascinating note about your trip here too.

Fabulous!

Kind Regards,

John.

danos (110407) 2016-10-08 10:24

Hello Craig,
impressive the view of the place with the rock formations to are unique and adorable.The hill on the backdrop with the falling light on it makes the image even more effective creating contrast in the scene.The lonely man on the left adds scale in the image.Well done.

Regards,danos

worldcitizen (15956) 2016-10-08 10:35

Hello Craig,
This is definitely a cool landscape. The rocks are so unusual, and there's a nice contrast between the dark color in the foreground, and the green hill in the background. I like the WS photo, too. It looks like some of those rocks make perfect stools. :-)

gervaso (28177) 2016-10-08 11:23

Hello, Craig!

The lighting is really fantastic, giving beautiful colors to this interesting landscape! The stones in the foreground make a very nice pattern and give good depth to the image! Wonderful place and composition! Very well done!

alvaraalto (42804) 2016-10-08 12:01

Hello Craig
A splendid picture with a fascinating balance between the foreground of the black basalt pillars and the mountains behind. Excellent sharpness in both parts of the picture and that is just what this scene needs.
Excellent presentation
Have a nice weekend.
Groet Rob

Tue (91526) 2016-10-08 13:28

Hello Craig,
Wow, what a great view of this famous place. I like the rather low POV, which includes the green slopes and cliffs of the background very well. The Giant's Causeway itself looks fantastic and so impressive. The light was gorgeous here. Excellent photo!
Lars

lousat (138561) 2016-10-08 14:41

Hi Craig. I would to criticize you because you did not put a human presence in the composition to give us an idea of the size of these rocks, but then I saw the WS ..ehehhe ... truly magnificent this place, the 2 pics are a real spectacle, lucky with light and with the weather, gorgeous! Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

kasianowak (17672) 2016-10-08 21:55

Hi Craig
Indeed, the light is great here and it really enhances the view, especially the contrast between the dark rock formations and the beautiful greens in the background.
And yes, it really looks like a secluded beach.
Good idea to include the WS image, it gives a good sense of scale.
Have a nice Sunday
Kasia

Nicou (193806) 2016-10-08 23:23

Hello

Quelle roche noire en premier plan et ces formes rondes fantasmatique rendu et en fond cette montagne quel pic et ensemble sueprbe dйcor.
Bravo et amitiй
Nicou

CLODO (45116) 2016-10-09 2:32

Hi Craig

Perefct use of the wide angle to give importance to the foreground with the hexagonal plates stretching to the green peak at the bottom, nice lateral light giving some sahdows and so a 3D effect. The tiny man gives the scale of this area
Cheers
CLODO

PaulVDV (62790) 2016-10-09 4:33

Hello Craig,
I'm glad you write that these rock formations are a lot larger than we may think. I've always wondered whether this is or isn't a relatively small natural phenomenon.
It seems so extraterrestrial without anyone in sight. OK, there are two persons on the pic but the place looks quite deserted.
An excellent view of the top of the nearest rocks combined with an exquisite vista.
Best regards, Paul

willperrett (14195) 2016-10-09 13:08

Hi Craig

A quite unusual shot of this oft-photographed place. Two things strike me straight away: the apparent lack of other tourists - which you've explained in your note, though I'm still surprised - and the wonderful depth of field your wide lens gives you. And that mountain neatly in the strong thirds position...

Regards

Will

adramad (72536) 2016-10-09 14:20

Hi Craig.
I love this POV, with the foreground of the Giants Causeway, we can see the forms as if they were trunks connected, the green of the mountain with its pyramidal top, gives a great charm and contrast to the composition.
An image to enjoy with its beautiful colorful, very bright and perfect clarity.
Excellent done. I love.
Happy start to the week.
Best wishes.
Luis.

abmdsudi (95869) 2016-10-09 18:51

Hi Craig
Beautiful coastline and the surrounding at low tide overwhelmed by strange shape of interlocking hexagonal rocks. I think it's a very decent shot, great perspective and point of view with excellent sense of scale, Well done, Congrats
Best regards

rychem (72187) 2016-10-10 8:25

This famous place made of basalt rocks is really magic, I think mysterious giants arranged a way for themselves :), excellent photo of fantastic landscape
regards Ryszard

s_lush (16602) 2016-10-10 8:45

Hello, Craig,
This is a really wonderful natural phenomenon. You have shot and presented it perfectly well. The depth of focus is incredible. Both the close foreground and distant background are very sharp and clear. An excellent presentation of this unique tourist attraction. A highly artistic work!
My warmest regards,
Sergiy

Royaldevon (85606) 2016-10-10 23:53

Hello Craig,

This is a very special place, impossible to imagine unless you've been there.
Most people photograph it looking towards the sea or including the sea, so this is different.
As you note, the timing was perfect, both for the light and the lack of other people.

I like how you have been able to capture the wet surfaces of the rocks which adds extra punch to their f/g impact.
This is a beautifully composed photograph, guiding sweetly into the scene.

Having had all these positives about the main photograph, I love the w/s even more! The rocks remind me of pots of different sized pencils stacked in pots! Tosca adds the scale and the narrative.

Have a lovely day,
Bev :-)

delpeoples (60342) 2016-10-11 2:32

Ciao Craig

A beautiful shot of this iconic attraction. the green of them thar hills is just so beautiful and of course the textures of the Causeway really make the photo so special. Perfect Rule of Thirds composition here, which has had major visual impact. Well done.

Thanks for sharing, I hope you're having a good week
Lisa

PiotrF (54246) 2016-10-12 15:19

Hello Craig,
Unique place, excellent capture of the famous Giant's Causeway.Picture of a model (Greetings to Tosca) in the workshop also very good.
The point of view is showing nice details of this place.Good composition and quality, fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

Cricri (176) 2016-10-18 8:07

Hi Craig
Assez spectaculaire les pierres plates et noirs sur l'avant plan, sur un beau paysage montagneux et vert que la lumiиre met en valeur
belle journйe
cricri

ecmel (1770) 2016-11-11 7:14

Hello Craig,
This has such an eye catching perspective.You've composed that impressive basalt columns nicely. Certainly the sharpness and clarity be superb.Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Ecmel

jmdias (114220) 2017-01-11 23:34

craig

we have this same rock formation near my home, in a mountain; anyway it isn't near the scenic sea and not so large as this one.
amazing landscape and precious contrast between the darkness of the stones and the strips of green and blue above. very nice quality and beautiful job.

hugs

jorge