Ogwen Valley Waterfalls January 14 th 2019

Today I am heading to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia to shoot a couple of the waterfalls,  It has been quite a while since I have been here.
Parking on the corner lay by I have crossed over the road and taken the path that follows the base of Pen-y-ole- wen around towards the weir.  The weather is very overcast and drizzling a bit, but I will get a few images.

Having reached the weir I have set up the tripod to do some long exposure images with the canon 5dsr and 17-40L lens. using a combination of 0.6 soft nd grad filter to prevent the sky blowing out and either a Lee 10 stop Big or 6 stop Little stopper to give the long exposure.  I will experiment with both, but think the little stopper will give best results with a slightly shorter exposure compared to the 10 stop and therefor I will get a bit of movement detail in the water instead of just a white blur with a very long exposure.


                                                                   10 seconds  f14

                                                                        13 seconds f14

                                                    Full wide view   15 seconds f14

Its raining a bit now so I will head back over the road and go up to the Ogwen falls next to the wooden footbridge which is at the start of the Cym Idwal path.   I stop to take a phone shot of the old bridge under the main road with Y-Garn in the background.

                              Looking down the Nant Ffrancon Valley towards Anglesey.

                                                      Tryfan and the gateway to Idwal.

I have set up the tripod just right of the bridge, clambering around the side of the waterfall for a slightly different perspective than is normally shot here. low cloud is moving quite quickly across the top of Tryfan over to the left.

                                                        13 seconds with  little stopper

                                                    15 seconds with little stopper

Now its time to go back to the car and drive to the opposite end of the Lake below Tryfan to go up the water fall path opposite.  This is a very boggy wet area and the paths are not very clear after the first section.  its a case of picking a dryish route following the Afon y fron river upwards to get enough height to view the valley.

I have climbed up to the first main waterfall section which gives a lovely view across to Tryfan and the Glyders over Llyn Ogwen.  The cloud is changing fast with the stiff breeze, I have managed to get this image with the light raking across the Glyders ridge , The Devils Kitchen and across to Y-Garn.

                          A short 1/4 second exposure was enough with the very fast flowing water.

After moving a bit higher up to the next set of falls ,  I have been waiting ages for a bit of light when the sun breaks through the thick cloud and illuminates the foreground just long enough for me to get this image.   I was going to wait around for sunset but after half an hour the cloud is just getting thicker so I will head back down now.

                                                                  1/4 second  f14

                            On the way down I got photobombed by a sheep in front of Tryfan .

                                                 The end of a good day in North Wales .

Aerial images of Snowdonia winter 2017/18

I have now been flying my DJI Phantom 4 pro drone for just over a year now ,   really enjoying the different perspective you get from shooting above the landscape as opposed to normal .  I have been looking forward to shooting some snow covered mountains and eventually Snowdonia got what i had been waiting for.   so here are a selection of my favourite images from the winter.

         Starting off in Ogwen valley, looking at the Glyders and Y-Garn, 2 frame panorama

                                                           Llyn Ogwen panoramas

                                 

The maximum height we are legally allowed to fly in uk  is 400 ft above ground level ,  i have found between 80 and 250 ft produces the best combination of height and viewing angle to give the best compositions.      If  i want an image that appears to be shot from a much higher altitude i can shoot multiple frames and merge together to give that impression.  an example will be later in this blog.

I stopped off at Capel Curig on my way towards Snowdon and walked up to the viewpoint , it was quite breezy but i had no trouble with the phantom .

                                                 5 image panorama stitched in Ptgui

                                   Looking towards the Snowdon horseshoe in the distance.

Moving on to Llynnau Mymbyr and as i walked to the viewpoint i instantly knew i was going to get some superb images,  having seen topdown shots of snow covered trees in the past that was one of the images i wanted to get.

Firstly just after take off  , i took an image at low level similar composition i would shoot with my dslr ,   but i couldnt get to this shooting spot to use the normal camera on a tripod.

                                 Up over the lake, getting great reflections in the water.

Now across the lake to shoot above the snow covered trees.

                      

                              Looking down the lake towards Snowdon in the background.

                             A vertical panorama , combined 6 frames in ptgui program for this one.

                 The sun was just starting to illuminate the tree tops as i shot this topdown image.

                                                   Looking back towards Capel Curig.

Now onto a couple of different days shooting  on Snowdon ,     walking along the Pyg track to get some height.

A multi frame topdown merge to appear to be shot from very high up  , this is Llyn Glasslyn with the small streams entering on the shore.

                        6 frame panorama merge looking over the lake Llyn Llydaw

                       A Six frame vertical panorama to finish looking at Snowdon over Llyn Glasslyn

                                           All images shot with dji phantom 4 pro + drone.

Idwal Reflections and Sunset over Snowdon dec 28th 2014

After a light fall of snow that i noticed on the Ogwen web cam, i have driven down to Ogwen valley in Snowdonia with Mollster to walk up to Llyn  Idwal.
The sun is shining down the Nant Ffrancon valley as we walk up the main Idwal path from Llyn Ogwen.

                                                                     Mol is posing already :)

                                                                             and Again!!!

          We have quickly made it up to the Llyn Idwal , the sun is illuminating the Y-Garn ridge :)

                                                             Stunning reflections today :)

                                             Amazing :)    dont see it this flat calm very often!

                Cant make mind up which composition i like best.   so here is a second image.

     Using long lens i zoom in on the snowy mountains in the distance behind Llyn Ogwen.............

                                       And now Y-Garn , loads of climbers up in the snow :)

     Time to head back down now, its quite cold and i don't want to miss Sunset over the twin lakes.                                                                 Mollster is posing yet again!

                                          Looking down from the Llyn Bochlwyd path.

                                                       Llyn Ogwen and Pen-yr-ole-wen.

                The sun is still lighting up the valley looking down to Anglesey in the distance.

             Down at road level now and a quick shot looking down Ogwen valley over the lake.

                       Time to drive down to Llynnau Mymbyr to shoot sunset over Snowdon.
I have driven right down to Pen-y-pass  and now as the sun starts to descend i have gone back and parked half way between the lakes.   the sky is looking very interesting and i need to shoot fast while the light is good.    I have just shot a 2 frame panorama with 100-400 lens :)



                              Stunning light over Snowdon right now :)    view large HERE

Now down at the waters edge, i am struggling to get any decent compositions ,  this one at least has good cloud colour.

  Light has gone now,this last image of the Snowdon range  shows the difference a few minutes can make.   still stunning!     But lovely warm colour on the side of mountain tops :)
                                                                      100 - 400mm lens

                                                           The end of a great day out :)

Fairys and Waterfalls oct 13 2014

A trip into Snowdonia today,   I think a shoot at Fairy Glen first while its bright and sunny , thick cloud forecast for later this afternoon.

I love this location , the colour of the wet moss on the gorge wall is amazing , so fresh and vibrant!
clambering down onto the rocks , i set up tripod and experiment with loads of different shutter speeds which gives smooth silky water and trails.


                                            25 seconds f14  iso 100 using 17-40L lens.

                                                                      6 seconds f16

                                                                       4 seconds f14

                            Moving further back and using a long lens to shoot into the gorge
                                                         
                                                          13 second f11  using 100-400 L

                                                             122 seconds f9  No sun!

Time to go now , i am going to drive up the Ogwen valley to shoot the waterfalls , its gone quite dull now  , but that will be ok for waterfall shots.

Parking at the Ogwen cottages , i cross the bridge and over the Pen-yr-ole -wen side of the river to shot across with Tryfan in the background.


                                                                        5 seconds f14

                                                                 3.2 seconds  f14

     Walking further up to the Llyn Ogwen weir ,  a good subject for black/white conversion.

                                                                       5 seconds f18

                                                           And a wide view  0.8 second

                                                                     1/25 th second.

        a quick shot of the waterfall by the Idwal bridge, i have photographed it hundreds of times
                                                         
                                                                        0.4 second  f11

 

the end of a good day out , almost time for autumn colours now, may go to Aberglaslyn gorge next week to see how the colours are.