A trip to Snowdonia

iPhone photo

Last weekend I had the pleasure (ha ha ha ha ha ha – it was wet and cold) of walking in Snowdonia for a picture. Yes, it was primarily just for one picture as it was a place we hadn’t explored before and there was apparently a gap in the clouds between 11 am and 1 pm so we used it as an exploration trip. Unfortunately, we had to park about 4 miles away and climb/hike 400 metres to our vantage point, oh and a storm with 65mph winds was due in the afternoon! So this wasn’t for the faint of heart and we had to stick to the mission at hand and not get sidetracked with otherworldy views on our journey.

iPhone panoramic

Not having a path to follow, just boggy/grassy mounds to climb, meant that the going was slow as there was no point rushing and getting into trouble and missing the picture we came for. After 2 and 1/2 hours, we finally made it to the top and quickly found some vantage points where the light was breaking through the clouds; whilst not quite the shot we were after, nature didn’t fail to provide. The wind was quite ferocious and there was no way you could leave a camera unattended as the wind shook it back and forth; I’m actually amazed we got a picture which was sharp, let alone in-focus.

After a few shots and a bit of food (and a coffee or two), it was time to head back down the mountain as the storm was fast approaching. Sure enough, about a third of the way down the rain started. Getting the gear waterproofed, and then ourselves, we headed back to the car and arrived completely soaked; even in all our waterproofs, but our gear remained dry – priorities! This was followed by a quick change of clothes and making hot food in the car before heading back.

One of the useful things (apart from taking the main photograph) was finding spots that would be good to return to later in the year and making notes of where the sun would be and then planning future trips.

Below is the unedited and edited photo of the day – just move the bar to see the changes.

Please note that I shoot everything as RAW with a flat profile. This is so I can get the most details from shadows and highlights and bring it back in post-production.  If you take a picture with your phone or a normal camera it will automatically process it for you to what it thinks is best; I just prefer to do this myself – for obvious reasons as you’ll see below.

Video of the editing process

The final image was edited fully on the iPad Pro and below is a video of this editing process which was about 4 minutes but condensed down to 51 seconds for your viewing. It doesn’t always work out this way, with little editing, but on this occasion I felt that more detailed editing wasn’t required.