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Algarve Chimney Sunset

I’ve been craving some good photography light for weeks, this evening, I even got to shoot directly at the sun!

The Algarve is well-known for its decorative chimneys, even more so in the northern hills. It is widely thought that the chimneys were originally designed in the “Moorish” era of Portugal, however, this has recently been proved not to be the case. Anyhow, there are many different designs of chimney and a neighbouring Quinta has an amazing show piece on top of the roof.

Tonight, I was watching the sunset and noticed that it was going to drop behind the chimney. I waited and had to keep readjusting my stance whilst I waited for a House Martin or Swallow to also fly into shot. I was lucky enough to get a House Martin fly through the frame.

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Algarve Chimney Sunset
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São Marcos da Serra at Sunset

I headed out just before sunset to get to a position to be able to capture my local village of São Marcos da Serra with the sun setting behind the hills. It took a few expeditions through the long grass and Esteva plants before I decided on the location and waited for the sun to just dip behind the hills. Whilst I waited I had to battle with what seemed like millions of female Mosquitos desperate for blood.

The prolonged rains we had this spring has made everything very green with large colourful flowers so the contrasting colours with the sunset glow was fantastic to photograph.

São Marcos da Serra ao Pôr do Sol - São Marcos da Serra at Sunset
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Sunset at the Barragem de Odelouca

Normal weather has returned to the Algarve over the last few days (will it last is the big question) so I decided to find a new spot to photograph the sunset. Using the PhotoPills App, I found a spot on the side of the Barragem de Odelouca (Odelouca Reservoir) where the sun would be setting on the far side of the water.

This location was very remote and took about 20 minutes of dirt track to reach. I was hoping to find something interesting to place in the foreground such as an old tree or rocks, however, the banks here are very steep and just dropped into the water. This is one issue going to an unknown location. I decided to try to use light shining off a bank and a large rocky island instead. Myself and Emma took along some wine and enjoyed the sundown whilst taking the photos.

The first photo was 20 minutes before sunset just as the sun was falling behind the hills.

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Pôr do Sol na Barragem de Odelouca
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End Of The Day In The Algarve Serra

Yesterday there was finally a break in the clouds so I grabbed the camera and headed to a nearby ridge to capture the sun going down.

I used a nearby Oak Tree as the silhouetted foreground and waited for the sun to almost disappear to give the sunburst effect. This image is the combination of 3 separate shots. One shot at f/22 to give the sun its star effect and then two at f/11. One was exposed for the sky and the other was overexposed. I blended the just the grass of the overexposed image into the darker image and then blended just the sun from the f/22 image.

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Sunset over the Algarve Serra
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Sunset high in the Algarve Serra

Last night I went to the top of a nearby ridge to capture what I hoped would be a great sunset. In case it wasn’t quite what I hoped, I took a shot before sunset to silhouette a young Cork Oak Tree in the foreground. Once the sun had set, it didn’t quite go to plan, the sky didn’t turn the fiery red I was hoping for, however, as you see in the 2nd photo, there was a very short moment where the sky was full of many different colours.

The mountains you see in the distance where the clouds have gathered is Monchique and Foia (the highest point in the Algarve) viewed from behind.

Young Cork Oak in the Algarve Serra at Sunset
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Sunset Turned The River Red

March has been pretty wet, very wet, but yesterday was a typically Portuguese Spring day, warm and sunny. I thought that there was going to be a nice sunset so headed down to a section of the Odelouca River in hope a red sky would reflect on the water.

It paid off, not an amazing fiery sky that we had the day before, but enough to reflect in the water. So I placed a Circular Polariser (or Polarizer) filter on to bring out the colours and help with the water and shot with a slow shutter speed to give the river a silky looking effect.

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Sunset Turns The River Red
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