Sky in Balance.

A balancing rock and the milky way photographed around 4am in the canyons of the San Rafael Swell. This is an area of Utah blessed with stunning landscapes and virtually no light pollution, yet if one is patient the eyes adjust and the landscape is visible at the darkest hours with only the naked eye. The only artificial light was from the occasional passing vehicle. The light on the sandstone is pure starlight, falling contrastless and omnidirectional from the stars.

Nikon D810a
Samyang 14mm f/2.8

A stack of twenty photos of 30s exposure were sequentially taken, then the sky was aligned in Starry Landscape Stacker. The final image was edited in photoshop, but the sky and the foreground independently, mostly using the curves tool.