Silhouette Sunrise

[Stu Bowie]

Africa at its best. I went to visit my good mate Gerrie in the Pilanesberg nature reserve yesterday. I arrived at the hide as the sun was rising over the hills in the BG. There was mist, and hippo's playing in the FG. You can see two of them amongst the reflection of the trees. I added a filter in PS to create this mood. I decided not to sharpen the image at all.

Canon 20D
24-105 @ 32mm
1/3200
F/5.0
ISO 400

Exp Comp -0.33
Hand Held

[Keith Carver]

Beautiful, ethereal, Stuart! Love that golden light on the mist, the birds, reflections, hippos. This is just gorgeous, TFS!

[Ken Watkins]

Stuart,

Absolutely "blazing", a totally different image for the Avian forum.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

This is fantastic, I really like the mood in this one. The hill, the mist, birds on branches, the hippos, the vast body of water, and the color, I love them all.

[Victor Soares]

Wow Stuart !!! That is an awesome, awesome image ... I have been there a hundred times and never seen it that beautiful. Makes me want to go there right now !! Very nice !!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, mood and composition. Does it need a bit CW rotation?

[Alan Murphy]

A beautiful image even without the birds. the birds put it over the top.

[subhrashis]

Love it!
Not much more to say, Don't we need a BIRDSCAPE section now!!!

[Joe Senzatimore]

An iconic image from Africa , and one of the best I have seen in a while. Just stunning and the choise not to sharpen was a good one . It might have lost the mood otherwise.

[Fabs Forns]

This is outstanding, Stu, very nicely composed, good colors and the foggy mood puts it over the top.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Well seen and captured. Seems almost otherworldly. I do agree with Axel about a bit of CW rotation.If you look at the far shore, it gives you a good sense for it.
Nice job!

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the wonderful feedback and comments.

Axel, Randy, I do agree with you. I judged my image on the ripples in the LRC, but having checked those again, I didnt get it quite right anyway. :o

[Ramon M. Casares]

Love ir, great mood, comp, colors, and scene! Congratulations!

[paul leverington]

Sweet!! Which filter did you use may I ask?

Paul

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful colors,composition and magic light!!!

[Harshad Barve]

this is out of world , clap, clap ,clap
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words. Much appreciated.

[Hendri Venter]

Hey Stu this is a wonderful image. Just love the mood and colours. The mist rising from the water adds a lot.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fabulous, Stuart. I have come back to look at this image several times. So full of interest, mood, and peaceful feeling. Thanks for sharing it, an inspirational photo.

[Mike Tracy]

One of the few images I have kept going back to view again. Wonderfully seen and executed.

[Lana Hays]

Stuart
I keep coming back to this one as well. It is such a well composed image.....with simplicity and beautiful colors but what intrigues me the most.....is it's peacefulness. Awesome.

[Michael Zajac]

The early morning colors are spectacular.Well done

[Matthew Studebaker]

Very beautiful- my favorite kind of bird photo. I love photos that are different from the norm, show habitat in a well organized way, have a limited color pallette, and show something unique. Excellent in all aspects.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you once again for all your great feedback and comments. Much appreciated.