This photo is titled "Salix Sunrise" taken at Evangola State Park in Irving, New York.
On the morning of July 13th, 2023 I visited one of my favorite local parks for sunrise. It was quite the experience considering I had only ever been here for sunset in the past as it offers an incredible view of Lake Erie and some of the best sunsets I've seen! Finding a composition for sunrise photos here was something I had been thinking about for weeks prior. One thing in particular that caught my eye outside of the incredible lakeside vistas were these amazing stands of Black Willow trees (A member of the Salix genus) which I knew would act as striking subjects given the right conditions. As the sun began to rise, some clouds started to roll in off of the lake from behind me and they looked incredibly dramatic, especially as they began to glow a brilliant orange color. As I was moving around looking for the perfect composition moving from tree to tree, slightly shifting my tripod from left to right I noticed the sun began to shine perfectly between two branches and I immediately thought this would be an incredible opportunity to capture a starburst! Once I was in place I began taken several brackets to get the exposure just right and experimented with various different apertures ranging from f/8 all the way to f/16. Within minutes the sun had moved out of position and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to witness that. I chose a completely random day out of the year to visit at sunrise, and I just so happened to chose the correct day that the sun would come up in that very small window! An amazing example of right place, right time.
This photo was taken on a Nikon Z7, with a 24-70mm lens and was edited in lightroom and photoshop.
EXIF ISO 200 - 24mm - f/11 - 1/25sec