A budding Scots photographer has captured a “once in a lifetime” shot that combines the Northern Lights, Loch Lomond – and the Milky Way.
Leanne Reid sat out in temperatures of minus one for almost four hours to get the remarkable image.
The rare moment shows the glowing green lights, flickering under a purple sky, while filled with millions of stars from our galaxy-and a snow-bound Ben Lomond.
The 35-year-old from Erskine, Renfrewshire, said: “I chase the aurora all the time and that was by far the best I’ve ever seen.
“It was one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences as it was dancing along the sky. I was sitting clicking away and didn’t want to take my eyes off the sky to even look at the camera screen.”
She added: “It was absolutely freezing, and nearing minus one last night and my wee finger was going numb from clicking away.
“By the time I got home I sat and looked at the photographs in awe.”
Ms Reid said she adjusted the exposure of the sky to enhance the normally faint Milky Way but did not alter the image in any other way.
“A lot of people have gone to Iceland and not managed to see them,” she said.
“There’s no point spending money and going elsewhere to see them when I can see them on my doorstep here in Scotland.”
