It's that time of year again, that few weeks either side of the winter solstice when the sun sets as far to the southwest as it can at our latitude of 53°N.
Which means that, for this brief window in the calender, you can witness and film a spectacular sunset overlooking the beautiful and dramatic bay at Porth Dafarch on the Isle of Anglesey, just off the North Wales coast.
This hidden gem of a beach is popular with those who know of its existence, as you can see from the activity going on in this time lapse video.
But I'm not as interested in dunking myself in the cold, wintry Irish Sea as I am in capturing the sunset, nicely placed between the two rugged headlands that border Porth Dafarch.
And on this expedition my wife Liz and I were treated to a stunning light show, with broken clouds streaming across the face of the sun as it sank slowly towards the horizon, scattering searchlight-like beams of golden rays over the sea and land, all reflecting in the wet sand below our vantage point above the beach.
In the end I kept my camera clicking away for over and hour and a half as the light just kept on getting better and better before the sun finally sank below the horizion to mark the end of another day.
But the enjoyment of our trip to Anglesey didn't end there, as we capped our day out with a meal at one of our favourite restaurants, the Sea Shanty, right next to the beach at Trearddur Bay, just a short drive from Porth Dafarch itself.
A special day indeed!
Filename - porth dafarch sunset timelapse 05
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 40mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/4000 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/30 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Filters - 2 stop neutral density graduated filter, used to reduce the brightness of the sky relative to the landscape.
Shooting interval - 4 seconds
Location - Porth Dafarch, Anglesey, North Wales
Music - Calypso Beach Walk - Doug Maxwell
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K, and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 48 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.