In the Highlands

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -

A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;

My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Robert Burns

Well, this is not exactly Scotland, but we definitely have our

highlands here too... and by the way, they're much, much higher ;-)

Taken a few days ago at dawn in the lakes area of the Gran Paradiso

National Park (at about 2800 mts./9200 ft. of elevation), this pano,

stitched from ten vertical frames, covers a field of view of about

160° and features almost all the highest peaks of the park and the

surrounding areas, including the entire "GranPa" range on the left,

the three Levannes catching the first lights of dawn at the center and

the Punta Basei with its huge hanging glacier on the right. Not a

cloud in the sky but a beautiful sunrise nonetheless, just the right

way to start a day entirely spent hiking and photographing in the park.

Your C&C are as always highly appreciated, thanks in advance for your

time.

Techs: Eos 50D, Tokina ATX-Pro 12-24 f4, tripod. Double exposure

blending for each frame and stitching.

PS: because of the pano size, a click on the larger file is highly

recommended...

This is an impressive image Paolo which is only revealed by clicking on the larger version.  I'm afraid the low raters haven't taken the time to even do that.  It's also probably a bit dark for people's tastes with subtle details that take time to appreciate.  It might "sell" better if the foreground was a bit brighter and/or had additional, foreground larger interest objects like the gray rocks.  The light is beautifully rendered in the background.

+1

 The smaller image doesn't really do this justice.  Nice ballance between muted foreground and brilliant splash of colour.