There's a lot going on in this seemingly simple night time image, shot from the flanks of Moel Famau in the Clwydian Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Wales, and overlooking the Vale of Clwyd stretched out below.
This still is actually just one of several hundred RAW files that I took that night and morning to make my 'Night to Dawn #1' time lapse video, which, when I'd finished processing it, threw up a few suprises.
This particular exposure was taken early on in the sequence, at around quarter to four on a chilly September morning with the Vale of Clwyd bathed in a sea of fog below my lofty perch.
Punctuating the swirling mists were the lights of Denbigh and its surrounding villages, adding a surreal look to the Vale, while overhead the stars and a faint milky way swung by in their stately cosmic dance.
I deliberately included the Moel Y Parc television transmitter in my composition, lit by red anti-collision beacons, as a much needed focal point.
If you cover over this tiny patch of red light the whole image just dies from lack of interest, but with that red highlight, placed strategically on the lower right hand third of the frame, the composition has structure and meaning.
A further aid to the impact of this photo was the short comet trail in the upper left hand corner of the frame.
At least, I think it's a comet trail, as this is the only frame in which it appears, and with a fifteen second exposure an aircraft would have left a trail of light dots caused by the flashing strobe lights they use.
But this early frame held an unexpected bonus for me, in the form of a faint, multi-hued aurora on the northern horizon.
Just visible to the naked eye, I thought this was just some light pollution from the heavily lit North Wales coastal strip.
It was only after processing the images and watching the finished time lapse video that I realised what I was seeing - what an unexpected treat!
Filename - vale of clwyd fog 02.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 14mm prime
Exposure - 15 secs @ f2.8, ISO3200
Location - Vale of Clwyd, North Wales
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CC
Comments - Tripod and remote release used to prevent camera movement
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