Second day on the Shropshire Hills in the West Midlands and headed to a ridge known as The Lawley for an evening golden hour and sunset.
The Lawley Sunrise
I was going to get up for a sunrise along the Lawley on the Shropshire Hills but could not. Had a problem with my back, could not get it off the mattress. Actually, I am glad I did not, after a cooked breakfast I attempted to scout the location of The Lawley carpark and took me a couple of hours to find.
Caer Caradoc runs linear to the Lawley ridge. Impressive it looked from the roadside, these Shropshire hills were looking more like mountains! With the July summer heatwave would not be walking up there in the daytime.
Sunrise landscape photography in the middle of summer requires a lot of effort and dedication. To be worth it, the weather forecast needs to be good and you should have already scouted out the location.
Evening Golden Hour
After getting my bearings, retired to my air conditioned hotel room for the day and waited for evening to return to the Lawley. Its suppose to be one of the best ridge walks along the Shropshire hills.
Making my way along the ridge and looking east gave great views back to The Wrekin. The sun would have risen over there. I love the white cumulous clouds in the deep blue sky, really adds interest to a landscape photograph.
Further along and higher up the ridge opened up views south west to the hills of Caer Caradoc. With the sun setting at a 45 degree angle using a polariser during golden hour made a big difference. But wide angle can create dark patches in the blue sky. Should experiment taking with a polariser and without.
As a bonus the rising moon made an appearance. I suspect in winter nearer to the shortest day the sun sets closer to the iconic hill of Caer Caradoc. But golden hour is better during summer and July as get the side lighting on one side of the hill and deep shadows the other adding depth.
The Lawley Sunset
Stayed put on top of the ridge until the sun began to set far off to the north west. Managed to include the outline of some smaller hills and the Shropshire plains in the foreground.
I just love a good sunset, prefer a sunrise but so difficult to get up, its better to wild camp in the summer for a sunrise maybe. Wild camping still on my todo list.
Just as the sun was setting I quickly switched to 70-200mm lens to get a more intimate shot. I took multiple exposures but one image was enough post processing, with a little lifting on the shadows to bring out some detail. Lovely evening on the Lawley.