Thursday 4th June – Water, water everywhere.

Well it was our last day in Wales, so we thought we’d get out if we could, but showers were forecast, so we anticipated getting wet. Fortunately our cameras and lenses are water resistant so it was only us that were going to suffer.

To give Holly more of a rest I ventured out on my own leaving Vanessa dog sitting. It was a trip a few miles up the road to the Swallow waterfalls and I went solo as we weren’t sure Holly could get through the turnstile.

Quite an impressive waterfall and this view was only about 100 yards in from the turnstile and no steps involved. There were other view points, but this was the best one.

I returned to the motorhome to make some sandwiches and we headed out again (together this time) to walk alongside the Afon Llugwy river from Betws-y-Coed. We only walked about 3/4 mile (carrying Holly some of the way) and every time we got the camera out it started to rain again. I did manage a couple of river photos…

Now normally to blur the water I increase the time exposure by attaching a filter bracket to the front of the lens and inserting a Lee filter to reduce the light entering the lens. But as it was raining, this just meant more to keep dry.

Now the techy bit: So instead, I used one of the great features of the cameras we use (the OM System, OM1 mk2). There is a ‘Live Neutral Density’ filter which can reduce the light level recorded in the sensor by up to 64x in 6 steps and the quality isn’t affected. In the images above the first was 1.3 seconds and the other a 1/4 second (using a tripod of course). The camera also supports graduated filters (which reduce the light to a proportion of the image – e.g a bright sky with a shady foreground). This could in future allow me to reduce the weight of my camera bag.

Heading back to the carpark at Betws-y-Coed the rain has finally kept people away from rock clambering and selfies at the falls under the bridge, so I tried my luck again.

Whilst in waterfall mode, we headed back to Llyn Ogwen lake to locate another waterfall under the Pont Pen-y-benglog bridge. It involved a tricky descent in wet conditions to the viewpoint.

50 yards from the waterfall are these scenic views…

And that it for another trip – we hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with us.