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There are some places in the world that just come visually alive at sunset, and the cliffs at South Stack on the northwest coast of the beautiful Isle of Anglesey, facing the Irish Sea, are one of the best.
This dramatic coastal landscape catches the light of the setting sun all year round, and when there's little or no cloud on the horizon the honey coloured rocks catch the firey red light of the setting sun, turning them a warm golden hue.
There's usually a good crowd of photographers on hand to capture the views, almost all concentrating their efforts on framing compositions that include the iconic lighthouse, perched on a headland far below.
And that's what I mostly do when I come here to photograph as well.
But on this occasion I decided on a different direction, having noticed a lovely swathe of cloud building up to the south over the squat form of the RSPB lookout post of Elin's Tower, perched photogenically on the top of the cliffs.
In fact, I was so taken by what this cloud was doing, as it caught the final rays of the setting sun as it passed below the western horizon, that I set up and shot the hundreds of frames needed to make my South Stack Timelapse #9 video from which I chose this frame to present as a standalone image.
Needless to say I was up on the clifftop long after all the other photographers had packed up and driven away, but I find that quite often the day saves its best lightshow till last.
Filename - south stack 13.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 1/60 sec @ f4, ISO100
Filters - Polarising filter used to enhance colours. Two stop neutral density graduated filter used to balance the exposure between the sky and land.
Location - South Stack, Anglesey, North Wales
This image - 800x450px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Image chosen from hundreds taken to make a time lapse video.
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