Misty dawn at the beaver pond

A cold October morning meant a thin blanket of mist sitting right at the waterline, rising off a beaver pond ringed with gold aspen. By the time the sun cleared the peaks and warmed the air, the mist had already started thinning — a fifteen-minute window at most.

Getting the shot

Small aperture and an HDR blend again, balancing the bright snow-capped peaks against the darker foreground grass and reflection. The near-total stillness of the pond did most of the compositional work, mirroring the mountains almost perfectly.