Autumn colours surround the gothic tower at Lake Vyrnwy, Wales.
Nov, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on the shores of Lake Vyrnwy in Powys, Wales. It is a man made reservoir built in the 1880's to supply fresh water to Liverpool and although it's main purpose still continues it is also a nature reserve, famed for it's bird life and is one of the most picturesque lakes in Wales.Time
I headed to Lake Vyrnwy in the early afternoon to have a walk around and a little bit of an explore, it's one of my favourite places to spend a few hours wandering about. As it got closer to the golden hour I parked up close to the area I planned to capture this photo and walked along the lake shore to find an unobscured view of the tower. The lake is surrounded by steep hills on all sides and any direct sunlight disappears quite a bit before sunset, with that in mind, and wanting to get some of the warm light on the upper slopes behind the tower, I set up and took the shot around thirty mins before the sun set. Within five minutes of taking the photo there was no longer any direct light in the valley that the lake is situated. Taken on October 29th at 16.20.Lighting
There was a nice warm light on the forested slope behind the the tower, highlighting the autumn colours further. Although the light wasn't hitting the tower itself, there was some nice ambient sidelight on the tower which allowed it to stand out from the back ground and provided the tower with a bit of three-dimensionality.Equipment
This was shot on a Nikon D750 with a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120 mm f/4 lens on a Sirui Tripod.Inspiration
Lake Vyrnwy is a beautiful location in itself but the Neo-Gothic straining tower adds an extra fairy tale quality to it. I wanted an autumn "fairy tale tower" photo from this location. I'd also never taken a photo concentrating on the the tower itself, despite visiting this location many times before and although I knew that the colours surrounding the lake and the tower in autumn could be spectacular, it was a case of timing my visit during autumn for the best selection of colours and plenty of leaves still on the trees.Editing
Most of the post processing on this photo concentrated on balancing the exposure and bringing down the highlights on the upper slopes behind the tower. I adjusted the colours slightly, reducing the colour luminance, particularly in the greens to give a deeper, richer colour. I also did a little dodging and burning on the the tower itself to enhance the ambient light on the tower further.In my camera bag
I basically head out with the same equipment every time I go out to photograph the landscape. I try to keep things fairly lightweight as I do head up the mountains quite often. I always have my Nikon D750 camera body, a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120 mm f/4 lens and a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 16-35 mm f/4 lens and my 3 Legged Thing Albert Tripod. Most of the time I will also bring my Sony RX100 III with me just in case I'm using my D750 for a time lapse and spot something else I have to capture at the same time (which always seems to happen).Feedback
When planning to photograph the sunset in or around a valley or lake that is surrounded by hills, make sure that you take into account the fact that there will be limited or no direct light on the scene much earlier than the actual time of the sunset, so arrive and get yourself into position early if you do want capture any direct light in your photograph.
