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Lake and rocks #1

Lake and rocks, Llyn Ogwen, Snowdonia

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The story behind this image

Another very early morning in Snowdonia, North Wales, this time on the westernmost point of Llyn Ogwen looking east towards the lightening horizon.

A stiff breeze ruffles the surface of the lake as the dawn chorus breaks forth over the waking landscape, heralding the start of a new day.

I'm completely on my own, standing on a partially submerged rock with my tripod legs firmly planted on the bottom of the lake, framing up this composition.

With the breeze killing off any chance of reflections, I'm relying on the rocks in the foreground to break up the flat expanse of water, with a long 30 second exposure to give the surface of the lake that mercury like sheen that just catches a hint of the sky colour up above.

On the eastern horizon the sky undergoes its morning transformation from blue to magenta to pink to orange and finally to white as the sun rises.

I've got a 2 stop ND grad fitted to reduce the brightness of the sky relative to the surface of the lake, so I can capture all the wonderful colours that are on display this morning. My God designed eye-brain combination can easily cope with the contrast range, but my limited digital camera sensor needs a little help.

I still can't believe I'm the only human here to witness such beauty, and I'm humbled to realise that, even if no-one was here, God would do this for His own pleasure and glory.

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Image data


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Filename - lake rock 01.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @24mm

Exposure - 30secs @ f16, ISO100

Location - Llyn Ogwen, Snowdonia

This image - 800x640px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure.