Serenity in Pastel.

[Stu Bowie]

A few weekends ago I visited my favourite location to bring back some kingfisher shots, and was greeted by this sunrise as I arrived at the hide, on a cold winter's morning. No PP work done here apart from a multiply blending mode. I changed my white balance to cloudy to create warmer colours and underexposed in camera. The Little Grebe in the FG was all alone on the dam.

Canon 50D
Canon 24-105 @ 24mm
1/125
F/6.3
ISO 100

Exp comp -0.33

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hi Stu, indeed a very serene image. Makes me want to become a morning person (I'm a nocturnal species :).
Love the color and the mist over water. The dead trees add a lot to the image, so do the ripples created by the grebe.
May be a tad bit of CCW rot?

[David Salem]

What a peaceful and sureal image Stuart. Great morning colors, I'm a morning guy, and I like the mist on the still water. The dead branches add allot to the frame for me and the Grebe keeps it avian.
Well scene and presented.

[Steve Kaluski]

Very serene Stu, love the soft pastel colours, I book my spot now for next time. Are the dead branches where the KF sits?

TFS
Steve

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful shot, Stu. Shows why we (sometimes) like to get up in the mornings. Lovely colors, and the rotation looks good to me.

[Stu Bowie]

Are the dead branches where the KF sits?

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve. Those 'perches' you are seeing in the image are actually quite far out. There are closer perches on either side of the hide which are much, much closer.

Thanks everyone else for your feedback.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Lovely, serene. Nice sense of depth because of the grebe, and then branches and hills in Background.

Sometimes we get so caught up with filling the frame with our birds, we miss the big picture.

Cheers

Randy

[Shawn Zierman]

Lovely scene well captured. The mood and colors are calming to my eye. A side profile wing flap or just a bit more head turn/bill definition are the only things I could see taking this up a notch...I mean the form definitely says bird, but it could be a turtle or a baby sea monster too :) Seriously though, it's a skill to be able to see these opportunities and capture them this well. That tree line definition on the right hand side of the frame is sweeeet.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm a morning person too so I can relate to this type of early scenery with mist and fog. That is very beautiful Stuart, great colours and composition. I was wishing for a better look at the bill even before I read Shawn's critique.

[Richard Flack]

Lovely colours here Stu. Speaks to the peacefulness of the area..... and how nice it is when no one is around :)

[Karl Egressy]

Beauty bird scape image, Stuart. It would look great on the wall.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image,love the colors,I am a morning person too.well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the feedback.

[gail bisson]

I saw this on FB , loved it there and love it here!
I like the idea of seeing more of the bill but would still be very happy with this,
gail