Today's image from my best of the year series is a failed moon shot from west Kerry, where we took the family holiday in August. The Photographers Ephemeris told me that, from the western extremity of the Dingle Peninsula and Europe, the moon would set over the Blaskets at 5.48am on Bank Holiday Monday, the 7 August. So, no lie in for me! Sadly when I got there, it was completely overcast but I was still stunned by the view from the tip of Dunmore Head on a very calm morning. After some playing around with the positioning of the tripod, I felt this was the best composition I could make. Using a Lee Little Stopper that reduces the exposure by six stops, I extended the shutter speed from 4 seconds to four minutes to get a really smooth sea. The other settings were f11 and ISO 100 at 23mm using the EFS 17-55mm lens mounted on my Canon 7D MarkII. I think I also used a one or two stop hard graduated filter to keep the detail in the clouds - I forgot to make a note of which one. I did quite a bit of processing in Lightroom, as you can see from the before and after comparison, below. However, the main adjustment was Dehaze +24 and the use of several radial and graduated filters to bring out the detail in the clouds, especially at the top left. I'm pretty happy with the outcome of this dud moon shot!

For sale at www.johncoveney.ie/new-landscapes . Blaskets-Dunmore-Head-Before-After Blaskets-from-Dunmore-Head-©-2017-John-Coveney