Point of Ayr, Lighthouse on Talacre Beach –> Flintshire, North Wales
Having seen an advert in the paper for free chipping in a pet shop in Flint, we decided to go & make the most of the hour long trip by hanging out on Talacre Beach for a while.
Back in 2004 [old age alert!?] I used to live in this area and spent a ridiculous amount of time on this very beach with Henry. Bringing the twins was like a step back in time. The weather was awful but we still managed to catch some pictures of the lighthouse. Some might remember it from the Dulux ad back in 2011; I also found this cool little clip on YouTube [no idea how they took that by the way; attach a camera to a drone…?]
On the picture above you can see the other problem I encounter on a regular basis: blurriness! I spent a considerable amount of time reading EVERYTHING there is to know about shutter speed but it just wasn’t connecting with my simple little brain. I like my explanations factual & visual and preferably written in the plainest English there is. Show me a diagram that tells me exactly what to do in times of a crisis and I’m a happy bunny. To stop me from feeling frustrated I ended up printing basic little diagrams that I laminated and now carry with me everywhere.
Since these pictures were taken I have played around with shutter speed settings. A lot. I made one of our apprentices jump. I watched our fire team extract a live dummy from a small hole. I captured flames. And I was brave enough to crank up the ISO. I guess we’ll have to go back to the beach to take sharp shots of the twins running. I don’t mind!
[PS: I discovered that freezing movement works for me and my 10-20mm F3.5 lens from a speed of 500 onwards. You can do this in Shutter Priority mode – and let the camera pick the best aperture – or you can play around on manual until you find the right aperture & ISO to go with your shutter speed. I find that now I have found a benchmark my brain can cope with, it’s easy to play around until you find the match you’re after ^_^]
Freeze flame:
van plus 4 
Beautiful. I’ve now left the UK because my visa expired. I miss it so much. So much beauty.
I have found the same problem with the photography. Trying to get the perfect shot. Especially with birds or waves.
Your fire is fantastic
Ah, wow, I see what you mean! :-) Lovely photos.
Thank you ♥
Now you’re talking, lighthouses on the coast. Right up my alley. Although its pretty rare around here for our Washington state lighthouses to be sitting on a wide open flat expanse of sandy beach… Our local lighthouses are all clinging to some wave smashed rocky headland along the ocean coast, or plopped down on some prominent point sticking into the inland waterways. Thanks for the trip to the beach, those dogs wore me out!
Went to Point of Ayre on a Geography field trip at University in the 80’s (really old age alert!). Unusual place when the tide is all the way out. Great photos by the way
One of my favourite subjects, I love lighthouses.
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Object | Highlights and Shadows
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Treasure | Say It With A Camera