Taken from a trip to Germany at around 7 PM. The wonderful colors of the sunset and the clouds covering the ground almost took away my breath. It was one of the longest sunsets i've seen so far, and one of the best for sure.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Nikon D600, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR.

Photo Settings: 16mm, f/4, 1/40 second, ISO 200.

Climbing Topanga Canyon, California.

Adobe Lightroom.

Nikon D7000, Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX.

Photo Settings: 11mm, f/16, 1/40 second, ISO 200.

The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project is a new and wonderful 340 megapixel vista of the central parts of our galactic home, a 34 by 20-degree wide image that provides us with a view as experienced by amateur astronomers around the world. Taken by Stephane Guisard, an ESO engineer and world-renowned astrophotographer, from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope, this image directly benefits from the quality of Paranal's sky, one of the best on the planet. The image shows the region spanning the sky from the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) to Scorpius (the Scorpion). The very colourful Rho Ophiuchi and Antares region features prominently to the right, as well as much darker areas, such as the Pipe and Snake Nebulae. The dusty lane of our Milky Way runs obliquely through the image, dotted with remarkable bright, reddish nebulae, such as the Lagoon and the Trifid Nebulae, as well as NGC 6357 and NGC 6334. This dark lane also hosts the very centre of our Galaxy, where a supermassive black hole is lurking.

The image was obtained by observing with a 10-cm Takahashi FSQ106Ed f/3.6 telescope and a SBIG STL CCD camera, using a NJP160 mount. Images were collected through three different filters (B, V and R) and then stitched together. This mosaic was assembled from 52 different sky fields made from about 1200 individual images totaling 200 hours exposure time, with the final image having a size of 24,403 x 13,973 pixels. Note that the final, full resolution image is only available through Stephane Guisard.

Credit: ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

I shot this last summer in Bremanger during my trip to Norway. The location is fairly close to the beach where I shot my other photo "Light Blue Night". This is a bit further out to sea, closer to the edge of the mountain to the right.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.

Photo Settings: 24mm, f/9, 30 seconds, ISO 100.

The highlight of 2012 for me was this amazing trip I did with my Dad. Such good memories and lots of photographs. This one has a classic postcard feel to it, yet it was right in front of my eyes! I didn't shoot any raw pictures since I feared I would need all my memory for the trip, yet the quality of this one is good so I have to share it.

Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.

Photo Settings: 70mm, f/5, 1/1000 second, ISO 400.

Berry Creek Falls from Big Basin in California. A lovely hike filled with plenty of redwoods.

Adobe Lightroom, tripod.

Nikon D600, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR.

Another dramatic cloudscape/sunset at Sunset Bay in Oregon. Low tide has corresponded with evening sunset for the last few days so getting to this spot has been easy. It's just so darn cold and windy.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

A long exposure view of Half Dome from Glacier Point (the same point of view used on the California state quarter). I love how surreal long exposures can be and this evening brought us some deep colors late in the evening. It was actually dark enough that we needed flashlights to walk safely.

Adobe Lightroom 4.3.

Nikon D80, Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED.

Photo Settings: 18mm, f/4, 30 seconds, ISO 100.

Map: 37.7308, -119.5728

A lovely toile pattern featuring mermaids, crabs, coral, anemones and other enchanting sea creatures. I was influenced by sailor tattoos and tiki drinks when I made this. I drew it all by hand, then brought the art into Photoshop to arrange in a flowing, repeating pattern.

Adobe Photoshop.

Some nicely formed water droplets on a plant in the Braunschweiger Botanischer Garten.

The perfect roundness of the droplets is created because of hydrophobic effect of the leaf.

Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II.

Photo Settings: 55mm, f/5, 1/80 second, ISO 250.

Map: 52.2710, 10.5316