Starlit River (First Place Winner: Adult Landscape)

Taken from the old ferry road landing near St. Croix Haven Campgrounds. This is a single long exposure of the night sky, and its reflection in the waters of the St. Croix River. The orange glow of the sun is still visible on the horizon, despite the time being nearly 11pm. This is caused by a unique balance between the position of the yet to rise full moon, our northern latitude, and the near solstice tilt to the earths axis. While the "sunset" was not visible with the naked eye, it was clearly visible on long exposure, not planned, but an amazing moment to capture none the less. Post production was minimal, done only in Lightroom with noise reduction, and highlight/shadow adjustments. Again, this was processed using a single 30 second exposure, at 3200 ISO. While this is not a scene visible to the naked eye, it is visible to the electronic eye, of a modern digital camera. All of the detail is "natural" in that, nothing in this image is created, manufactured, or fabricated in anyway. In fact, if the human eye was as sensitive to light as the camera sensor used to take this photo, this is exactly what we would see when looking up at night.

by Corry Mosher

LandscapeAdultHinckleySt. Croix RiverCorry Mosherstarssunsetlong exposureFirst Place 2014