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I always look forward to the coming of autumn in the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, as the colours on display can be just stunning, depending on the weather of course!
One of the more famous and well photographed autumn locations is the old stone bridge at Llanrwst, arching across the river Conwy to the Tu Hwnt-I'r Bont tea rooms on the far side of the water.
For just a couple of weeks every autumn this old thatched cottage, now owned by the National Trust, turns a vivid red as the Virginia creeper clad walls and roof take on their astonishing hues.
This image was shot around the middle the season, with the Virginia creeper a deep red, picked out in a late afternoon sun, and set against a backdrop of trees laden with golden leaves.
With the bridge and sky brightly lit by the late afternoon sun, but the cottage being in shadow, the contrast betwen the two areas was too much for my camera's sensor to cope with in a single exposure.
In the end a set of five exposures, each one stop apart was needed to fully cover the range of brightness levels in this scene, to be merged together to create a high dynamic range (HDR) file in Adobe Lightroom.
The HDR file was further optimised in Photoshop to bring out the best of the colours, and a medium strength 'Orton' effect was applied as the finishing touch to enhance the autumnal feel.
Filename - llanrwst 02.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 32mm
Exposure - various @ f11, ISO100
Filters - Polarising filter used to enhance the colours and remove glare
Location - Llanrwst, Snowdonia National Park, North Wales
This image - 800x382px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
Comments - Multiple exposure taken with tripod mounted camera for HDR rendition
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