Sunrise with Fog

I shot this image this morning with John and his friend, up at the Mississippi Wildlife Sanctuary.

Five-stitch HDR processed through Nik's HDR Efex. I ran the image through a light opacity Simplify BZ layer, high detailed setting. Then through 50% opacity NIK's Color Efex/Small Details, which I love for its effect on bare tree branches. Some Tonal Contrast to get some depth and light balancing.
I customized a Shadowhouse texture and applied low opacity, Multiply blend mode. To balance it out out I flipped the texture horizontally and then applied a second coat at low opacity. Last, I applied Darken/lighten Center, for effect and some saturation adjustments.

Hope you like it..............Comments welcome.

I am impressed with the number of steps you worked with but the final image is a real moody, beauty! The tree is fantastic and even leans in towards the center just a bit. The sunrise completes the balance and the textures/processing add the magic. Outstanding!

Jay, as soon as I saw the title I thought "oh, boy, this should be good" and I wasn't disappointed. This is really nice - I love the lighting and the mood and texture work. Nicely done:S3:

Beautiful comp. and texturing. Love the curve of the tree. Nicely done. Happy New Year to you.:S3:

I forgot my new years wish to all of you. I wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year! Cheers............Jay

Very, very nicely done, Jay. Great composition and use of HDR and textures. One of the important measures of good digital filter use, to me at least, is leaving an effect that's profound but not obvious. You certainly achieved that with your work on this image.

I think there's a bit of starburst effect where the sun is peeking through. Was the aperture setting small enough to promote that?

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Originally Posted by Dennis Bishop

Very, very nicely done, Jay. Great composition and use of HDR and textures. One of the important measures of good digital filter use, to me at least, is leaving an effect that's profound but not obvious. You certainly achieved that with your work on this image.

I think there's a bit of starburst effect where the sun is peeking through. Was the aperture setting small enough to promote that?

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Dennis, Thanks. I used a f/18 aperture on this shot, more for DOF, and it turned out to have a nice effect on this sun.

Very nicely crafted composition, Jay! Excellent base image. Your blending of textures works very well with the fog and bare tree to create a rich moody image. The soft light takes it over the top. Well done.

I really love the look you achieved with the filtering and the textures. I also like the dark moody colors and the leaning tree really makes the image.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the kind words.

I second Nancy. A real moody beauty!

Beautiful colors and lighting, Jay! I love the composition with the tree, and the textures complement the moody look of the image. I might lighten up where the sun is peeking through just a little, but other than that it looks wonderful. :S3: