Irish Dolmen Photo

Photographer’s Note

Tuama Ursanach Chnoc an Bhrunaigh - Brownshill Portal Tomb (aka A Dolmen)
Location: Carlow, Co. Carlow, east Ireland.

Brownshill Portal Tomb was built as a burial place for their Kings by Ireland's first farmers sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC.

A portal tomb is so called because the entrace to the burial chamber is marked by a pair of tall portal stones and covered with a single massive capstone which rests on the portals and slopes downwards towards the rear. Brownshill tomb is believed to be the biggest of its kind in Europe.

Interestingly, the public information board on the site states that the tomb has NOT been excavated, and so not much is known about the site - but both burnt and unburnt burials have been found in similar tombs, along with artifacts like arrowheads, ornaments etc.

Composition details: I tried to compose this image by giving the stones the maximum impact I could - choosing a very wide angle lens, and a low POV seems to have worked OK here.

PP: added a little blur to the foreground grass + warm-up filter

Signal-Womb, stardam88, jordilara, loumun has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

PauloAJPires (294) 2005-08-24 4:57

Gostei imenso da fotografia, mas para mim tirava esse efeito... Eu sei que a ideia era dar a imagem de que o objecto é grande, mas acho que ficava melhor sem o efeito, experimenta

Já agora, também tenho uma fotografia de um Dolmen em Portugal,vai ver...

hugolef (4909) 2005-08-24 6:50

Hello David
a nice compo. a nice frame, with this centered dolmen which takes all the place, and good frame ground/sky. there is a big dynamism, enhaunced by the blur, even i find it wasn't useful. Your frame and the choice of wide angle were enough.
nice exposure, you were not in good conditions (see the shadows) in the middle of journey, isn't it ?
Well done.
Regards, hugues

summersun (4964) 2005-08-24 11:21

nice use of wide angle. I like the way the stone appears huge in the middle of the image. good colors and contrast.
Vanessa

sleon (9350) 2005-08-24 12:17

Hi David
Good compo here - I like the way the clouds seem to lead the eye into this central monolith. The colours are nice and clear - enhanced by your polariser, and the wide lens is a good way of emphasising the scale of this tomb. I find the blurring a bit curious - effective in some ways but it gives me motion sickness! Not sure it adds to the picture.
Regards, Susanna

Signal-Womb (11590) 2005-11-16 17:49

Very nice low POV on this Dolmen David, it looks massive. Great contrast in the sky. Not sure on your use of motion blur though. Anyhow, very good shot. Regards Steve.

stardam88 (73) 2005-11-23 12:51 [Comment]