After a lazy start, we bundled the dog into the car, and drove up the coast to the Akamas to take him for a walk on the beach.

The beaches at Toxeftra and Lara are brilliant.  Miles from the crowds – even in the height of the summer – and just as pleasant in December.

It might have been cloudy, but the sun kept on putting in appearances and its still t-shirt weather.

We even toyed with going in the sea for a swim, but on balance decided it would probably have been just a little too cold.  And this is December, with just five days to Christmas!

The light was quite amazing.  As the sun broke through, shafts of sunlight lit the sky and the sea.

As we’d left the house, I’d just slung my camera over my shoulder with a wide angle lens on it.  Fortunately I’d picked up a 3 stop graduated filter as well.  The skies were going to make the pictures today!

As we walked I took a load of pictures, suddenly wishing I’d got more than one flashcard with me.

In my experience, taking shots of the sea needs a lot of pictures.  As the waves crash in and recede, the picture changes markedly.  So I shoot on continuous at three frames a second, choosing the best frame when I get home.  But when you’ve only got 200 frames to play with, they disappear fast!

It was only as I was down to the last couple of shots I realised I’d shot everything at ISO 500 (despite being cloudy, it was still bright enough to shoot at ISO 200).

So I’d got a bunch of nice pictures, but all a bit grainy.

The solution, make them monochrome – that’s always more forgiving of a bit of grain – and in some ways adds to the effect.

See the pictures in my Akamas album.