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I'm stood in the car park at the recently completed Porth Eirias watersports centre on Colwyn Bay's promenade, watching as the vertical axis wind turbine rotates merrily in the moderate breeze.
Colwyn Bay really has become a centre for wind power, with the huge offshore wind farm now dominating the horizon and now two of these much smaller turbines providing power to Porth Eirias.
I was in a kind of Goldilocks situation trying to photograph the spinning turbine.
First I tried a very slow shutter speed, which resulted in the blades becoming an indistinct blur.
Next I tried a much faster shutter speed, which froze the blades, making the turbine look as of it wasn't working.
Finally a shutter speed of 1/25th second was 'just right' (to quote Goldilocks), giving enough blur to imply movement without losing the graceful shape of the blades.
A darkening of the sky and a conversion to monochrome gave the final look that I was after, emphasising shape and movement.
Filename - turbine 01.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 67mm
Exposure - 1/25sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Porth Eirias, Colwyn Bay, North Wales
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Slow shutter speed used to blur turbine.
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