The coast of Wales has one of the greatest tidal ranges in the world, a unique feature that I make extensive use of for shooting time lapse videos.
One spot where this massive movement of water can be experienced close up is the Menai Straits, a narrow body of sea separating the Isle of Anglesey from the mainland North Wales coast, though which the tide rushes twice a day.
I've shot time lapse videos of the tide here before, but always on a rising tide until now.
Following an afternoon spent viewing the beauty of the Snowdonia National Park under a fresh dusting of late spring snow, my wife Liz and I decided to take in the sunset from the Anglesey side of the Menai Straits, overlooking the waters to the impressive snow capped peaks of Snowdonia to the south.
We arrived on an ebbing tide for once, with the posts of my favourite decaying jetty just emerging from under the waves.
That was all the encouragement I needed, so it was out with the camera, tripod and all the other paraphenalia needed to shoot stills for a time lapse video.
We sat and watched as the sea level dropped, revealing more and more of the old jetty while the low angled rays from the sun setting behind us played out over the mountains in the far distance.
We stayed until well after sunset, as the cool blues of twilight replaced the warmth of the sunlight and the whole of the jetty finally emerged from under the waves.
It's amazing to think of the celestial engineering that makes all this happen, all for our benefit.
Filename - menai straits timelapse 08.mp4
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @50mm
Exposure (start of sequence)
1/125 sec, f4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence)
1/15 sec, f4, ISO100
Time between exposures - 6 secs
Location - Menai Straits, Anglesey, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 16 secs
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