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Caernarfon Castle Interior #1

Stone spiral stairs and window inside Caernarfon Castle, North Wales

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The story behind this image

Having taken many, many photos of Caernarfon Castle from the outside, my wife Liz and I finally made it through the entrance gate and spent a fascinating couple of hours exploring the nooks, crannies, towers, stairwells, courtyards and hidden corners of this magnificent pile.

Of course, given such an opportunity I went mad photographically speaking, and snapped everything I thought would make a good image at the time.

Thank goodness for digital, as I would have wasted a whole lot of money on film and processing had I been behaving like this in the 'good old days'!

Back home a few weeks later and a review of the shoot in a calmer, more analytic frame of mind, revealed that ninety nine percent of my images from that afternoon weren't worth a light, especially those I'd shot from outside standing in the exposed central courtyard.

Fortunately for me, I'd also taken a number of frames from within the walls themselves, and although shot in technically challenging low light / high contrast situations, it was these interior photos that had much more mystery and ambiance to them than the bland snapshots taken outside in plenty of light.

So here's one example, showing part of a spiral stone stairwell, lit soley by reflected light coming in through an embrasure in the outer wall.

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Image data


Filename - castle caernarfon interior 01.jpg

Camera - Nikon D3100

Lens - 18-55mm zoom @ 30mm

Exposure - 1/15sec @ f5.6, ISO100

Location - Caernarfon, North Wales

This image - 533x800px JPEG

Conversion - Adobe Lightroom

Comments - -0.7ev exposure compensation used to preserve highlights.