Cattail Sunrise

I really like this image Nick. I like the color, the backlit cattails are impressive across the entire image. The soft BG completes the scene for me. Well Done.

William Gillis

Awww...warmth. Well, visually at least - probably not too warm in person.

I really like the backlighting here. The panoramic format really works with this one.

Nick, I love cattails myself and I'm always shooting them here in CT, but none at sunrise. Really nice glow and the plants are backlit nicely with frost on them. Horizon is nicely placed; don't know what could improve this one.

Really nice, Nick. This is one of those images that makes me hope for an opportunity in the future.

Beautiful image Nick! Great glow around the cattails. The orange glow on the field behind them really adds to the depth of the image with all the layers of light and dark.

Wonderful light Nick

Sweet light and great composition. I really like images that take something that is not an in your face scenic and create something beautiful. This a fine image and well executed.

Love that backlighting, Nick, and how you were able to retain focus of the cattails but throw the background grasses out of focus. Pano format works well here. Really nice.

The backlit cattails and the color cast make this a very enjoyable image. I also like the glow coming in from the top.

Really really nice! The backlighting worked beautifully & I like the orange red cast!

Looks awfully warm for December Nick. Backlighting gives some nice separation. The pano crop with the vertical cattails works well together.

Really nice Nick. The backlighting and rich colours throughout are beautiful. Like the pano crop.

Thanks much for your comments on this. I had quite a fun time on this morning. I only made about 3 exposures of these cattails in the time I was there. I spent the time figuring out a comp I thought would work in the panoramic format and then setting it up and waiting a bit more for the light and color to get a little better. When it did it didn't last long.
Brian and Harry, Yes, it looks a lot warmer than it was... Thanks all! Nick

Beautiful glowing light and the highlights on the cattails are terrific. I also like the simplicity of this scene.

Absolutely gorgeous light with wonderful color, Nick! I like the pano format as well. Excellent use of backlighting and the exposure looks dead on. There's a lot of magic in this one!

Excellent capture here, Nick. Love the back-lighting on the cattails. The pano format is a perfect idea on this scene too.

Very beautiful. Would a lower POV have positioned the cattails against the cleaner background above the fields?

Thanks much to all of you that have taken time to comment on this! Appreciate your thoughts!
Murali, I gave that some thought while there and even tried it with the camera even lower, but it didn't work very well. The grasses gave even more of a cluttered look in the foreground and I already had the camera pretty low. I actually like the looks of the cattails in this position rather than the more open area above them. I guess I had your same thoughts at first but it just didn't work as well imo. Thanks, Nick

That backlight is super. I have shot and seen this type of scene myself. I could just feel myself standing there is the early morning light. Very well done!

Fantastic Light!!!

The dof really helps the backlit cattails stand out. The glow from the top left is nice also.

Very nice image with beautiful back light. Good choice with the pano format.

A wonderful intimate scene, Nick, full of energy of the upcoming morning. Your composition works perfectly for me, and the separation of layers is spot on to my eye.

Peter

Hi Nick you captured this wonderful light and color perfectly a remarkable composition
Albert Darmo

Absolutely gorgeous Nick, beautiful glow on the cattails, love the pano format, excellent work indeed.
John

Hi Nick, seems like I almost missed this gem. The color is great and I sure do like how you managed to find a "row" of cattails glowing in the sun.

Really appreciate your comments! Thanks very much to all of you! Nick

Lovely scene--great comp! WIsh there was a tad more DOF so those front tails were in focus (f/11, 1/200 perhaps)
EDIT: after reading the comments obviously it doesnt bug anyone else--i'll clarify a bit: I think keeping the bg blurred was a good idea, i think it would have been stronger though with the focus up closer, even if that meant throwing out the back tails a tiny bit--its the first 'row' of tails i think where the primary focus should be.

Hey Stan, Thanks for your thoughts on this! I agree and if I was doing it again I would try just that. I do wish the closer tails were a bit more in focus too. There was a little breeze here and I was trying to keep the ss a little higher, but I probably could have went higher on the iso and shot at f/11 with a little closer focus. The breeze actually died down a bit so your settings would have worked out well as it turned out... if I had done just that.

Wow .Beautiful light and color

Thanks Paul! Nick