Yesterday afternoon was grey and very, very wet with torrential rain rolling in from the sea.  Imagine my surprise therefore that on looking up from my laptop because I sensed it was getting dark, I looked to my right and through the balcony door saw not only the most stunning sunset with deep orange hues framed by foreboding cloud and a dark sea, but a cargo ship steaming by in the right direction to give the horizon something interesting.

Thankfully I learned early on after moving here to keep a camera and appropriate optics ready to go for sunset shots – even with suitable settings saved in one of the custom options – in the sideboard next to my desk. Within seconds I had grabbed it, switched it on and dialed the rotary controller to the custom setting by when I was opening the balcony door.  The shot was nailed at the first attempt, and a few seconds later the hues started to fade and the ship had sailed on.

For the photographers: Canon 5D mk IV body with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and Canon 1.4x extender version III.  Shot at 520mm with 1/1000 and f/8 at ISO 200.  The image is completely unedited apart from conversion from raw to jpg and cropping to 16:9 the same as the TV screen.

Steve