Looks like there was a lot of post production software, like Photomatrix used. I think this is a great shot and would have liked to see it as it was originallly shot.

Flyerace, thanks for the heads up.

Yo jakebrake, semperfi, (1980-84 active ) I love discussing politics with brilliant minds on both sides of the fence and have spent many years doing so while getting paid for it. I have discovered with the advent of FaceBook that everyone is now a journalist, critic and professor of everything. I still meet with ex-old marine officer pals, local police Ltnts, sheriffs/chiefs and educators who source-back all their positions, are intelligent, respectful of debate and understand American history.

Thanks for clearing that up. Spent most of my career shooting political types, spent many an hour in rooms with them during executive sessions and although I would consider myself an expert on policy, I am appalled at the level of ignorance and apathy from the average American so I'll stay out of here.

Just joined and I didn't realize that when I did, politics was involved with this site. Isn't this a photo site?

Personally, I never shoot an image with so many foreground distractions. I would have originally focused on the birds eye, cropped out 95% of the branches with the lens.

Pacific NW is a paradise for photography. Lived over 30 years here and carry my camera with me everywhere I go yet still haven't even scratched the surface. Lush rain forests west of the cascades, high desert cowboy country to the East. Snow-capped mountain ranges, breathtaking seaside vistas, wooded trails, elk and bird protected refuges. You could spend your whole trip here and not see one tenth! I suggest: Sauvie Island (protected bird nesting areas for snow geese, blue heron) 20-miles west of Portland; Oregon Coast Hwy 1 (from The California/Oregon border to Port Townsend, WA for undeveloped, jaw-dropping shots of the most awesome stretch of seaside views in America. Important to note that Oregon law prohibits privatization of beachfront property unlike every other state with ocean bordered land. Coastline dotted with small fishing villages and A stretch of Arabian desert-like sand in the Oregon dunes); Olympic Nat'l Forest (Mt Rainier and more); Columbia Valley (eastern Oregon and Washington wine country, stunning); Mahler Wildlife Refuge in SE Oregon (1-million acre wildlife refuge, Steen Mountain which is the strangest mountain I've ever seen with its many gorges and the elusive Kiger Mustangs, the only actually wild running Conquistador horses brought over from the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs and stayed to win the west. If you can find them, you just might see a stallion thundering up a vista with his band of mares and yearlings trailed behind them a mile-long cloud of prairie dust). There's more wildlife, glacial-topped mountains, waterfalls and towering Doug Fir and Cedar forestland in Oregon and Washington than the rest of America combined. Then there's untouched and undiscovered Idaho! Enjoy.

Nice images, Angler. There's a St. Helens Oregon here. Maybe I'll take some shots of the other side of the pond. Although I'm way up in the hills, deep in the woods, I often visit St. Helens for business/shopping.