This is a very gorgeous scene! It's half daytime and half nighttime. The light coming from the house adds to the effect, as do the reflections in the water...This is clearly a quality image!
I'm really into goth rock and new wave. My favorite band is The Birthday Massacre. The guy in my avatar is, in fact, a guy. His name is Mana from the band Malice Mizer.
I kept wondering what made this so attractive. A lot of things contribute, but I think that without the strong foreground and the ledge of rock in the middle distance on the left, the photo would not work nearly as well. Somehow for me, the foreground gives the rest of it a strong anchor, and the trees, water, reflection and sky seem to float above it. Very harmonious. How many shots did you need to determine that 30 seconds was correct?
The long exposure really make that cottage interesting, at first I wondered if it was burning, but then I noticed the lines of the stars. Would it be possible to take another shot just after this one, with shorter exposure to get the stars "right", and then blend the to in PS?
Not that it would necessarily make a better pic than this one, but it would a fun experiment :)
What a great photo! Really brings out the peace of the night, and as said in the first comment, I can imagine also the noises of having fun from the cottage. 10/10
WOW! Is that a neat picture. It makes us Northerners proud to live where we do because of all the natural beauty that surrounds us. Thanks for sharing, Math King
Quiet