Early Morning Shots from Lochalsh Woodland Walks

Sunrise from the Sunken garden (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 28-300mm lens at 28mm, ISO 400, 1/200 sec at f/11, HDR +/- 2 stops)

Another beautiful morning today so I popped down to the Sunken Garden for a few shots of the wonderful early autumn colours.  Here the contrast of the blue sky and rising sun against the brilliant orange of the Burnt Sugar tree (Cercidiphyllum ilum) made this a tempting compsition.  It was quite difficult to balance the darked foreground against the brightness of the rising sun in the sky.  I am trying to stop using HDR as it does become a bit of a lazy habit but in this case against the bright background I felt it was the only way to achieve a more realistic balance.  I quite like the result.

Below are a few other shots of the lichens on the Burnt Sugar tree and the wonderful blue Hydrangea 'Taube'.

Lichens on Burnt Sugar tree (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 28-300mm lens at 86mm, ISO 100, 1/5 sec at f/6.3, tripod)

Bench and Burnt Sugar tree (Cercidiphyllum ilum), Lochalsh Woodland Walks (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 28-300mm lens at 31mm, ISO 100, 1/3sec at f/16, tripod)

Hydrangea 'Taube', Lochalsh Woodland Walks (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 28-300mm lens at 86mm, ISO 100, 1/30sec at f/6.3, tripod)