For many, just viewing the aurora borealis is a life-long dream. And to capture them with a camera is both a thrilling and awe inspiring experience.
(image credit: Janet Ayton)
The corona is a gaseous region above the Sun’s surface that extends millions of miles into space. Amazingly, temperatures in the corona may be up to 200 times hotter than the actual surface of the Sun. Large bubbles of hot plasma within the corona are usually threaded with magnetic field lines that rise up out of one sunspot and arch back to reconnect at another nearby spot.
To photograph the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), follow these instructions and tips to get the best photos. Try different settings shown here and learn what’s best for taking pictures of the Northern Lights in all their nightly beauty.
Equipment Needed
(image credit:Beverly & Pack )
Photographing Aurora doesn’t require a fancy camera body with “automatic everything”. Some people actually prefer using older manual cameras, which have a minimum of battery depleting electronics. When working in cold weather, camera batteries will drain much quicker than normal so keep 2 extra batteries in your camera bag, or suffer the wrath of Murphy’s Law. The same applies to bringing 2 flashlights with fresh batteries.
Lenses
(image credit:SteveSchwarzPhotography )
You also want to use the fastest wide angle lens you own. Most consumer wide angle zoom lenses are f/3.5, this is barely fast enough. A f/2.8 or f/2.4 is much better. Many SLR cameras come with a 50mm prime lens that most people quickly replace with a more convenient zoom lens. If you still have an old 50mm prime lens laying around, dig it out – it will probably be the fastest lens you own.
Serious aurora photographers usually own at least one f/1.4 wide angle prime lens. These can be somewhat expensive, and very specialized since most nature photographers don’t need fast wide angles because they are stopping down to maximize depth of field for landscape photography.
Direction
(image credit:TheWildPony)
Most of the shooting orientation will be between the northwest and southeast sky. With this in mind, position yourself to shoot with light sources (towns or cities) to your south. When solar storms are very strong and hit the earth’s atmosphere with strength, both the northern and southern sky will contain the aurora, and often in some wild colors.
Moon Light
(image credit:Green Cornetz)
Speaking of the moon, a moon lit night can be very helpful at lighting up the surrounding countryside not only adding to the composition possibilities, but the moon makes it much easier to shoot and for walking. It does take a pretty good aurora to compete with the light from a full moon.
Location
(image credit:Steve Schwarz Photography)
It can be hard to predict the Northern Lights so you may be in for a few hours of waiting during a cold night. Take a look at the profile of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) to learn more about the best locations and times to find and photograph the Northern Lights! Also, learn more about what kind of weather in Scandinavia photographers can expect and how you can best survive cold weather photography!
Tripod
(image credit:Steve Schwarz Photography)
The main requirement is a tripod. Your exposures will be at least 10 seconds and possibly more, there is no way to hand hold the camera and get decent results.
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