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There are certain times of day that, given the right conditions, are just wonderful to be out photographing in.
Pre-dawn is one of those times for me, as the eastern horizon has just started to light up but with sunrise still some time off.
The range of colours and changes to the light temperature that occur are beautiful to behold, and there's an added bonus in photographing at this time of day in that, although our eyes try and do an auto white balance adjustment, the camera's sensor doesn't, so all the colours are availabe to be seen in the final image.
I found myself on one such morning, after a strenuous climb, on the summit of Moel Famau, the highest peak in the Clwydian range of mountains and my local hill, close to Mold where I live.
The sky was just lightening to the east and some high altitude clouds were starting to glow overhead.
The remains of the Jubilee Tower on the summit stood out in stark silhouette against the sky, and I spent a happy but cold twenty minutes photgraphing the tower until the sun rose and the sky lost its pre-dawn glow.
The tower itself was a bit of a shapeless mass in the first photo I took, so I decided to add some interest to it by light painting inside one of the recesses around the base of the tower.
I think the effect worked quite well, and I'm very happy with the overall feel of this image.
Filename - monument 05.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 30secs @ f11, ISO100
Location - Summit of Moel Famau, North Wales
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Tripod, mirror lock up and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
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