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To paraphrase my favourite philosopher, Forrest Gump, 'light is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get'.
And that's certainly true of my home in North Wales, where every day is a weather adventure and the light is never the same twice.
Naturally enough, the most dramatic and interesting lighting conditions from a photographic point of view occur on the cusp of the day as the sun is either rising or setting, splashing its red-golden rays across the heavens and lighting up whatever clouds are there to pick up the light.
So that's why I was parked up in the Pen Barras car park on the slopes of my local hill, Moel Famau, in the early pre-dawn hours, camera on tripod pointing east towards the rising sun.
This spot holds a particular appeal for dawn photography, as I can look down a 'Vee' shaped wooded valley towards the sunrise, with the slopes on either side of the composition acting almost like a cup which slowly fills with light.
This makes for a great time lapse effect, which I took full advantage of in my Moel Famau Dawn Time Lapse #2 video, shooting hundreds of frames as the light slowly spread upwards across the dark sky, lighting up the passing clouds in a blaze of colour in its passing.
This still image is one of those exposures, taken towards the end of the time lapse sequence, when the light was at its most splendid.
Filename - moel famau dawn 02.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 32mm
Exposure - 1/80 sec @ f4, ISO100
Filters - None
Location - Moel Famau, Clwydian Range, North Wales
This image - 800x450px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CC
Comments - Tripod and intervalometer used to prevent camera movement
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