Conway castle and bridge

Conway castle #3

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The story behind this image

This is the classic view of Conway Castle on the North Wales coast, taken from the road bridge spanning the estuary of the river Conwy.

I've tried, for the sake of variety, to photograph the castle from other angles, but none have the impact or compositional elegance of this particular arrangement.

So how do you inject a little variety in a scene such as this? Well fortunately there are a number of variables at our disposal, even if the actual subject remains the same.

First is the weather. This photo was taken on an evening with clear skies, but I've also taken the same photo with storm clouds, and I quite fancy how it would look in fog, although I've never seen this scene under those conditions.

Second is the time of day. Dusk is my favourite time for photographing the castle, as the artificial lights on the battlements balance with the fading natural light in the sky, but there's no reason why a morning or daytime shot wouldn't work as well. I've just never been there at those times yet.

Third is the season. With the difference in light angle and sunset position between summer and winter, there's an almost infinite variety of lighting conditions to play with throughout the year.

Fourth, and finally, is the tide. As the castle is on the banks of an estuary the state of the tide plays a great role in what you can actually see. This photo was taken at high tide, but at low tide there are exposed mudbanks under the bridge which, given the right lighting conditions, can glow orange as they reflect the light of the setting sun.

So many options, all from the same viewpoint! It really pays to photograph a local location under as many different conditons as you can find. You never know what might work.

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Image data

Filename - castle conway 03.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm

Exposure - 25secs @ f11, ISO100

Location - Conway, North Wales

This image - 800x640px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera movement.