The rainbow, that symbol of hope for the future, was a timely metaphor as it appeared over the huge offshore turbines of the Gwynt-y-Mor wind farm in Colwyn Bay, just off the North Wales coast.
The turbines make a visually emphatic statement under any circumstances, and I was busy photographing them from the Colwyn Bay promenade under threatening skies when this rainbow suddenly appeared in a flash of sunlight.
Sensing an opportunity I quickly reconfigured my camera into 'time lapse mode' and proceeded to capture the hundreds of still images needed to create this video as the rainbow, remarkably long lived, tracked along the horizon from left to right while the wind turbines, catching both sunlight and cloud shadow, continued to rotate in their relentless efforts below.
I just had time to fit my polarising filter before starting the shoot, rotating it to reveal the maximum colour saturation in the rainbow as an added bonus.
With impeccable timing, the rainbow finally faded from view just as it had cleared the right hand edge of my camera's viewfinder.
I doubt if I'll ever see the like again, but if I do I'll be sure to have my camera ready!
Filename - colwyn bay rainbow timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 100-400mm zoom @ 260mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/50 sec @ f5.6, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/50 sec @ f5.6, ISO100
Filters (1st sequence) - Polarising filter used to enhance the colours of the rainbow.
Shooting interval - 3 seconds
Location - Colwyn Bay, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 17 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.