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I've made a habit of climbing my local hill, Moel Famau in North Wales, two or three times a week in the morning before going to work.
Obviously, as well as benefitting from the exercise, I'm looking to get photos of interesting and unusual views on my morning forays, but as I start work at 8am I find myself climbing in darkness or semi-darkness for about half the year.
What to do? Am I not going to bother taking my camera with me during the winter months? Don't be daft! Of course I'm going to take my camera, as you can make some amazing and evocative images at night, especially away from towns and cities.
This particular photo was taken on a clear, but freezing, morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten on the eastern horizon, with the strong diagonal of the trees giving me the strong composotion that an image with not much in it needs.
Photographing in the dark is one instance where the camera can see things that the human eye can't make out, with stars and colours appearing on my monitor after a thirty second exposure that I didn't realise were there.
It's all good fun, but those thirty second exposures add up, and I never did make it to the top that particular morning.
Filename - stars 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 30secs @ f5.6, ISO400
Location - Moel Famau, North Wales
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Tripod, mirror lockup and cable release used to prevent camera shake
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