Project 19 - Choosing the Moment

This is the first in a series of images taken as the sun was setting. The whole series was taken in a little over 14 minutes. This particular image was taken at 20.24.19.

Taken just 34 seconds after the first image it was this particular image that made me decide to take the series as there was a noticeable change in the sky which made me think that the results could be good.

Time elapsed is 34 seconds during which time the sky has changed significantly but the sun can just be seen over the edge of the hills.

A further 32 seconds has elapsed. I have aimed the camera slightly to the right of the previous images as can be seen by the position of the tree on the brow of the hills. I did this because I wanted to record a greater area of the sky which was enabled by the shape of the horizon line that dipped down to the right.

50 seconds has elapsed. I was using a 70-300mm lens fitted with a polarising filter and here I have panned back slightly to include the trees to the extreme right and again shoot more sky

Just under 2 minutes have elapsed. Here I have cropped the image to take advantage of the tree on the brow of the hill. During the shoot I had not really noticed this feature as I was concentrating on the light as it changed but 'discovered' it when processing the images. This shot is my particular favourite.

The time now is 20.38.33 (the value of EXIF data!). Fourteen minutes and 14 seconds after I began taking the images. The sun has gone down below the hills and the sky is at its most dramatic.

All images were RAW shots and have been enhanced in exactly the same way - they were all cropped to be of the same size and sharpened to the same degree. There was no saturation or vibrance added.

It is worth noting that the drama of the sky was not so noticeable to the naked eye and it was not until I enhanced them using Camera RAW that it was as evident as in the final images. 

The location of the shoot was Seathwaite in the Duddon valley in the Lake District. The day was glorious throughout and the evening was a special gift. Earlier in the morning I had tripped and like all good photographers decided to save my camera rather than myself with the result I cracked a couple of ribs. In addition I failed to save the camera although the damage was restricted to the 50mm prime lens I was using at the time. I then got into trouble from my wife for failing to save myself! These shots and the others I got during the day made it all worthwhile.