June 21, 2018, Te Anau-Milford Highway, New Zealand. Our planned sunrise shot was a wash: thick fog meant no sunrise to speak of. Actually, no visible sunrise at all, although the sky sort of got lighter. A bit dejected, we got into the van and motored off. But as we headed north toward Mirror Lakes, another opportunity presented itself. A soft frosty hillside lay before shadowed mountains with the sun just behind them about to show itself.
Stop. Seconds were ticking.
No time for tripod. Dash. Quick frame. Nope. Change position. Quick frame. Not quite. Move up and to the left. Yes, there’s the frame. Go to f/16 for a sun star. Check exposure. Good. And wait, wait, there it is — click. Check it. Damn, not quite right. Waited a bit too long: no sun star. Move to the left to put the sun behind the mountain again, recompose and wait for the sun to come up for its second rise in sixty seconds. Here it comes…annnnd… Click.
In the space of five hectic minutes the frost was already melting, but you can still see a bit of a glow on the grassy ridge.
Best shot of the day. Until what you’ll see tomorrow…
(Nikon D850; Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. RAW processing in DxO Pro; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
AMAGA Photography Blog 
Worth the cold fingers. Nice use of the pedal compositional tool to place the sun where you wanted it.
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That’s a beautiful image!
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Thank you kindly!
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What a lot of shades of gray you managed to capture. Surely more than 50.
I drove that same road to Milford Sound, stopping at Mirror Lakes to take pictures.
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Thank you. Yes many many many shades of gray. Probably more than 50. We went as far as mirror Lakes. Did not go to Milford sound. The previous day we went to Doubtful sound. I posted a couple of photos back in February or March. Problem with the Doubtful sound day is that the sky was pristine blue. I wanted fog and clouds and mist. Boo-hoo.
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From what you hinted was coming, I guessed the next post would show a picture taken on Milford Sound. From what you say now, I guessed wrong.
We had mostly sun at Milford Sound. It’s not what you were after, but it made for some good rainbows:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/new-zealand-closer-looks-at-a-milford-sound-waterfall/
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Great rainbow! Well, follow me this week and you may retrace your steps.
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I love the running commentary, that was fun. And it certainly was beautiful light!
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Thank you very much. Yes, the light knocked us all out.
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