This image is a time blend of over 250 images to give dramatic star trails over a mountain cloudscape. Firstly, the perfect weather conditions are required with high pressure conditions giving the flat clouds below and clear skies above. The location is on the island of Madeira and at close to 2,000 meters in altitude is very cold at night, close to freezing with a cold biting wind. The images take over 2 hours to collect and then there is the small task of editing all 250 images to remove satellites etc from the final result. Editing also includes colour balancing and selecting the best brightness and contrast ranges to give this effect when blended together. Amazing when it works but a lot has to go right to succeed.