With high tide occuring around sunset and a full moon providing a seven metre tidal range, the North Wales coast was the obvious place to be to shoot the stills for a seaside time lapse video.
But just having a large tidal range wasn't enough, I also wanted an interesting foreground for the water to cover over and, if possible, an attractive background to round the whole visual experience off.
There's one place that I know provides all these elements in spades - the Menai Straits.
This narrow body of sea separates the Isle of Anglesey from mainland Wales, and is renowed for the severity of its tides and currents along with being one of the most beautiful places in the world.
I chose the Anglesey side of the Straits for this time lapse, as I'd photographed here many times before (local knowledge always helps) and just love the view up the decaying jetty across the water to the city of Caernarfon and the mountains of Snowdonia on the far side.
For the hour or so I was on the side of the Straits taking the stills for this time lapse I was entertained by the antics of three holidaymakers from Somerset who were trying their hand at beach casting, only I don't think they understood the concept of tides, as they had to move backwards every five minutes to avoid going under water.
So I'll dedicate this little video to them - I just hope they caught something for their troubles!
Filename - menai_straits_timelapse_04.mp4
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @40mm
Exposure (start of sequence)
1.6 secs, f4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence)
10 secs, f4, ISO250
Time between exposures - 10 secs
Location - Menai Straits, Anglesey, North Waless
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 18 secs
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