Click on the image for licensing terms
During our two week stay on the Mediterranean island of Crete my wife Liz and I spent most of our time driving around the lesser visited interior with not much of a plan except to try and be somewhere where we could watch a nice sunset from at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, finding coastal locations with a view of the sunset proved a bit of a challenge, as we were staying near the north facing coast, and in September when we visited the sunset was occuring to the southwest.
So a study of the map drew our attention to the small seaside development of Matala on the south coast, with a west facing beach and the added bonus of a small island just offshore against which the sun should set.
We spent the day on a leisurely drive, meandering through the beautiful and unspoilt landscape of central Crete before arriving at Matala just about an hour before sunset.
So after enjoying a cooling paddle in the Mediterranean, and with the sun rapidly dipping towards that island on the western horizon, I set my camera and tripod up on the beach next to the sea, pushing the legs firmly down to anchor the assembly against sand movement and wave washing on the incoming tide.
The sunset proved to be all that I'd hoped for and more, and I spent the next hour taking hundreds of still frames to go to make my Crete Sunset Timelapse #1 video.
Once I'd finished shooting the time lapse sequence I found I just couldn't tear myself away from the stunning colours of twilight filling the sky from the western horizon upwards, changing dramatically from orange to deep blue.
So I just had to take one last photograph before finally packing everything away ready for the long, dark drive back north to our resort.
But such beauty is well worth taking a little effort to both witness and photograph.
Filename - crete matala 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 29mm
Exposure - 2.5 secs @ f4, ISO100
Filters - Two stop neutral density graduated filter used to balance exposure between the sky and foreground.
Location - Matala, Crete
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Tripod, mirror lock up and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2018 unless otherwise stated.
