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The most famous landmark at Talacre, on the North Wales coast, is this abandoned lighthouse which was built in 1776 and fell into disuse in 1883.
Looking at this image you'd think that I'd let my tripod sink into the beach, but no, the lighthouse really is at an angle as the concrete plug on which it sits sort of moves around in the sand under the action of wind and tide.
This particular morning I was delighted to see the lighthouse with a fresh coat of paint and looking really spiffy as it glowed in the pre-dawn twilight. However, as the sun rose the fresh white paint really started to give me contrast issues as the highlights blew out really easily.
Even with a polariser and a 3 stop ND grad filter in place I could only photograph the lighthouse for about five minutes after sunrise before the light got too strong.
Even so, I think I got the best of the light with the lighthouse glowing against a beautifully blue sky.
Well worth getting up early for!
Filename - lighthouse 39.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 95mm
Exposure - 1/13sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Talacre, North Wales
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure.
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