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It's very rarely that I'll be found climbing my local hill, Moel Famau, during the day. My normal time to venture out and up is early morning, before going to work, and I'm usually on my own, watching and photographing, as the first light of dawn sweeps across the landscape.
On this occasion however, we had a church afternoon fun climb which I went on with a bunch of my friends, many of whom are keen photographers too, so of course there was plenty of camera action going on.
I was in two minds as to whether to photograph or not, as I don't usually like the harsher light of mid-afternoon. I prefer the more directional and softer light of early morning and evening, but what decided me in favour were the dramatic clouds that were present on that day - towering cumulus for the most part, which added the extra interest factor that convinced me to make the effort and produce a photo.
On the slopes of Moel Famau there are a good selection of drystone walls which make for great foreground interest and leading lines. I had photographed from this point on many previous occasions, using the wall to lead the eye up to the remains of the Jubilee tower which sits on the summit, so I headed straight there, set up my camera and tripod and waited for a nicely lit landscape with the clouds in an interesting position.
Unfortunately my friends were climbing all over the ruin of the tower when I came to press the shutter, but after a bit of judicious cloning in PhotoShop I had the place to myself again!
Filename - monument 02.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 1/40sec @ f11, ISO200
Location - Moel Famau, North Wales
This image - 640x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure.
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