Morning in the Trossachs

I got the notion for this image a day earlier on my way to photograph something else I have had in mind for of a couple of years now, and in any case, I was too late to get to the vantage point in time, not least because it's on a bridgeless island between two rivers!

I returned the next day at dawn, properly equipped with a roll of black electrical tape (to seal the trousers around the top of the boots, obviously; two tight twists a couple of inches apart work rather well).

It was a cold morning, with a temperature of -3C down in the glen, but a steep temperature gradient, resulting in thick frost on the heather and birks at the bottom, but none on the oaks and beeches just a little bit higher up, creating this stunning effect.

I shot this using a 150mm lens at f16 / 1/2s; with hindsight I should have probably opened up the lens and cut my losses on the depth of field, as there seems to be too much motion blur for my liking on the leaves, even though it was a still morning. But I am still quite happy with the result, and there is always next year to try a different approach. :)