A calm, clear night in July 2021 found me hunkered down over my camera on the slopes of Moel Famau, the highest peak in the Clwydian Range Arwa of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in North Wales.
The view to the south, overlooking the Vale of Clwyd, was just stunning in the deepening twilight of early night, with the brighter stars just becoming visible over the glowing streetlights of the market town of Ruthin, far below.
To the west, the moon was dipping towards the far horizon, and as its light grew dimmer more and more of the fainter stars became visible, until finally the milky way came into view, arcing upwards into the heavens.
This was my signal to start shooting the 1,200 or so still images that would go towards creating this time lapse video, capturing the setting moon, the movement of the milky way and, as the night wore on, the appearance of Saturn and Jupiter from over the iron age hill fort of Foel Fenlli to the south.
It being July, it wasn't too long before the cool blue tones of the dawn twilight started to creep across the sky from the east, in fact at this time of year the sky at 53°N latitude never actually gets fully dark.
And as the stars started to disappear with the approaching sunrise it was time to pack everything away and head back down the hill for the short drive home and a well earned nap!
Filename - vale of clwyd night timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 14mm prime
Exposure (start of sequence) - 10 secs @ f/2.8, ISO5000
Exposure (end of sequence) - 10 secs @ f/2.8, ISO400
Filters - None.
Shooting interval - 10 seconds
Location - Vale of Clwyd, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4k and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 41 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.