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An amazing dawn at Penmon Point, on the south eastern tip of the beautiful Isle of Anglesey, just off the North Wales coast.
With clear skies, calm seas and an incoming tide filling in the contours of the rock formations leading to the iconic lighthouse, this was definitely a morning to enjoy just being alive.
And with a spot of photography thrown in for good measure there was no other place and time I'd rather be.
I took many, many photos that morning, but the most dramatic and evocative images were taken just on the cusp of the sun rising over Puffin Island, a few hundred metres out from Penmon.
With the sky glowing orange to mauve, and the lighthouse reflecting in the still waters at my feet, I wanted to capture this moment in a way that I could use to convey the air of peace, mystery and hope at the start of a new day that I was experiencing.
So what I did was to rapidly take a series of seven images on my tripod mounted camera, each a stop apart, in order to capture the enormous dynamic range of the scene in front of me, planning to use these differently exposed frames in an HDR blend later on.
I thought that bringing out clear detail in all parts of the scene, from the brightest highlights in the sky, to the deepest shadows in the rocks at my feet, would be helpful in portraying the view in a meaningful way.
So that's just what I did, and as usual, Adobe Lightroom did a fine job of creating an HDR image containing visible detail throughout, with no overexposed highlights or underexposed shadow areas in the picture.
But you know what? There was no ambiance, no mood, no feel, no emotion in this technically constructed exposure blend.
Although the HDR process had improved the technical aspects of the image, its soul had been ripped out.
That wasn't what I wanted at all, so I revisited the original RAW files from the seven exposure sequence that I shot on that wonderful morning, and instead of seeking out the technically best exposure, I looked for the single frame that evoked the greatest emontional response in me, reminding me most vividly of that dawn spent by the sea at Penmon.
And this was the frame I chose, grossly underexposed compared with what would be considered 'correct', but just oozing with that sense of mystery, peace and hope that I experienced in that wonderful place on that beautiful morning.
Definitely a case of 'less is more'.
Filename - penmon lighthouse 12.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure - 1/125 sec @ f11, ISO100
Filters - 2 stop neutral density graduated filter used to balance the brightness between the sky and foreground.
Location - Penmon Point, Anglesey
This image - 640x800px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Tripod, cable release and mirror lock up used to prevent camera movement
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