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It's that wonderful time of day just after the sun has dipped below the horizon but is still underlighting the clouds in fantastic swathes of pink and gold light.
My wife Liz and I had decided to drive to West Kirby for a walk around the Marine Lake in anticipation of a nice sunset, and we weren't disappointed.
But it's what happened after sunset that was the icing on the cake.
With perfectly still air there was hardly a ripple on the surface of the shallow seawater pools left by the receding tide on the huge area of flat sand that is West Kirby beach.
Reflecting in the pools was a line of cloud, just at the perfect angle and glowing in the twilight.
Well Liz and I made the most of the opportunity, her with her smart phone (remarkably good images considering the optical challenges) and me with my dinosaur Canon 5D plus ND grad filter plus tripod.
I got some funny looks from passers by but hey-ho, the final images were well worth it.
We must have stayed in the one spot, marvelling at and photographing the light, for about 15 minutes until the clouds lost the final faint pink glow and everything turned grey.
This particular photo is my favourite from the session, and shows the light and colours at the peak of brilliance.
Filename - beach clouds 11.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 22mm
Exposure - 1/20sec @ f8, ISO100
Location - West Kirby
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure between sky and land
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