Freezing Bosque Sunrise

[Ron Boisvert]

Canon 20D, 70-200 f/4, w/ 1.4X TC, @ 113mm, tripod
ISO 800, f/8 @ 1/250, Manual Exposure, +1/3EV
(5) verticals stitched with PS Photomerge, cropped some off both ends
NR w/ Noiseware Professional

Ice isn't seen in New Mexico very often. I photographed some cranes in flight on this morning with disks of ice frozen to their legs. Man, was it cold!! I was shivering uncontrollably by the time the last birds flew off, so if you think this image isn't sharp enough, you know why.;) It was a special morning.
Thanks for looking, and all comments and suggestions are welcome.

[Gus Cobos]

Love the composition, image and capture Ron...color rendition is spot on...I like all of the natural elements coming together in perfect harmony. Would suggest on giving it about 1 degree of CW rotation...aside from this, well done...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Nick Palmieri]

Love the feel of this image. I am a big fan of the shadows especially as they appear in the mountains in this image, real nice. I just think it needs it needs to be straightened out a bit.

[carole wiley]

I think this is your best yet. I love the one bird in the sky! This almost looks like a painting, I think all of the elements come together on this one. Just needs straightening as noted.

[Alfred Forns]

Sweet Ron Those are special mornings at Bosque !!!!

About all you could have done differently is using a Grad ND filter for getting more color in the sky but love it as presented !!!

btw its interesting to see them picking at the ice that builds around the legs and the crashes when they take off .... skidding on the ice !!!

btw my worst morning at Bosque was nine degrees with winds gusting to over fifty !!! When the sun came up we found tripod were moving and had to head into town for breakfast !!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ron, Agree that this is one of the best yet and like how the comp is handled.The red reflection also strengthens the image. Agree with a bit of CW rotation...

[Harold Davis]

there's an optical illusion in this one. there's two different horizon lines. the one in the foreground is level, but the one in the rear is not. i wonder if some distortion correction might help. i love the scene. the colors are nice and i like the lone bird in the sky.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Ron, I agree - this is the best image of your Bosque pictures and boy does it look cold!:)

__________
Cheryl

[Ron Boisvert]

At time this was photographed I was not using a bubble level yet. However, whenever I have a reference for horizontal, bubble level or not, I always use the guides in PS to verify a level horizontal. In fact, I did just that before I posted this image because it gives me the impression of being a little off as well. Perhaps I didn't choose the right line to make level, so I went back today, and think I found a better place as a reference. I did a CW rotation of 0.8 degrees. I believe that this is very close, and that any residual perceived crookedness is due to the lay of the land, and/or distortion caused in creating the panorama in the first place.

Alfred, those conditions sound like Minnesota, not New Mexico!

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on this image - I really appreciate it!

[Harold Davis]

big difference on my end. works great now!!

[Bob Miller]

The repost is right on! Agree with Al about using graduated neutral density filter to hold back the sky and balance exposure. I always Look forward to your next post!

[Christopher Miller]

Great job with the repost! Great scene, and like the colors.

[Lance Peters]

Love the repost :)

[Gus Cobos]

Very good repost Ron...well done...:cool: