Photography, like life, is full of compromises. To get this composition, I had to move away from the cattail to gain some elevation by moving up a small hill. I definitely did not want the cattail higher in the frame since there was a dark bank there and the cattail silhouette would be lost. Now, that I am this far away I have to go to a longer lens (420mm after the 1.5 crop factor and a 1.4x TC) - which gives me a DOF problem. I'd like both the silhouette and the reflections in focus but this is the best that I can do after the distance/elevation move which led to the long lens/DOF problem - even at f/40! I opted to go soft on the silhouette. Straight from the camera.
What I needed was a small ladder, but then the tripod might not be high enough (& I couldn't find a shorter cattail). I'll have to look again tomorrow (or better, this evening so that tomorrow morning I know exactly where I need to be). Of course there's always Plan B - leave out the cattail - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/85233997