QUIRAING LIGHT SHOW

Thick cloud eventually moved away at about 1am revealing a stonking sky full of stars and a risen Milky Way. I've had this shot in mind for about 8 years now and finally everything came together. Milky Way position, no moon, clear skies, no people around etc.

There aren't ANY cars about at 1am, let alone any driving up the Quiraing road. To make this picture I had to set the camera on interval shooting mode on a tripod, and shoot a frame every 30 seconds while I went and got my car and drove up and down the road. Due to the problems composing anything in the darkness, it took about 5 attempts to get a composition that worked and about 10 drives up and down the hill to get decent light trails. All while leaving several £1000s of camera gear at the top clicking away

A 120 sec exposure for the landscape was needed to get some texture and detail in it. Then a 15 sec exposure of the sky to get the stars decently pinpoint. Bring together as layers and mask in Photoshop and I'm delighted with the end result.