In pictures: Nightscapes
A selection of winners in the International Earth & Sky Photo Contest, The World at Night’s (TWAN) annual photography competition.
A stunning collection of nightscape photos have been selected as the winners of the International Earth & Sky Photo Contest - The World at Night’s (TWAN) annual photography competition. First prize went to Alex Conu for his image Northern Lights above Lofoten taken from a mountaintop in Lofoten Islands, Norway.
"The competition encourages photographers with imagination to push their cameras to their technical limits, and to produce eye-catching images that appear perfectly natural and are aesthetically pleasing," said David Malin of the judging panel. The Photographer by Nicholas Roemmelt was the second place winner in the Beauty category. The shot was taken in March 2015 in Stockiness, Iceland.
The first prize in Beauty of the Night Sky category went to Stephanie Ye from China, for an image made in Tromso, Norway, titled The Tail of Aurora.
Sacrament of Unification with Nature, was the third winner in the Beauty category by Boris Dmitriev from Russia. "This is all that we love on travel and outdoor recreation, with the unique nature of midland Russia. Bogs, lakes and rivers and there is practically no light pollution," said Dmitriev.
In the photo sequence submissions the winner in the Beauty category is Total Solar Eclipse from Svalbard by Thanakrit Santikunaporn from Thailand. The sequence captured the eclipse phases every three minutes, as seen over the frozen landscape of Svalbard, Norway.
The Light category winner of photo sequences was Sun Guocai from China, for Mountain Liupan Startrails captured in Ningxia region.
The second place winner in the Light category is Carlo Zanandrea for All that Glitters is not Gold taken in December 2015 showing constellation Orion rising over lights and fog in the province of Treviso in north east Italy.
Ancient Ground, Modern Sky, is the title of the third winner in the Light category, captured in August 2015 by Amirreza Kamkar from Iran.
In the photo composite submissions, where frames of various exposure or focus settings are blended, the winner in the Beauty category is Adam Woodworth from USA, for this image captured in Newfoundland, Canada.
The Light category winner of photo composites is by Alvin Wu from China. The rising arc of the Milky Way was seen at MaunaKea observatory, Hawaii. ALL PHOTOS: COURTESY TWAN