SONY - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 8 Second Exposure
The great thing is you do not need to take a tour to photograph the Northern Lights! You can do it all on your own! Of course tours are great too!
If you read my blog post about how to find the Northern lights you will know that photographs do them justice. Meaning, not all Auroras look like they do in the pictures in real life. You can have a pretty weak aurora - one that looks almost grey in color and it will show up as green and spectacularly beautiful in photos.
It took me and Robert a lot of trial and error to learn how to do night photography. We went on an aurora Tour in Alaska and that gave us even better insight on not only night photography, but also on how to shoot the aurora.
Of course you will have some trial and error of your own - since every aurora and all conditions are different - but hopefully through this post we can cut that time down for you.
SONY - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 13 Second Exposure
SONY - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 5 Second Exposure
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 8 Second Exposure
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 8 Second Exposure
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
1. A Camera with the capability to take long exposures
2. Lense
3. Extra Camera Batteries
4. SD Card
5. Tripod
6. Remote
7. Flashlight or Headlamp
8. Appropriate Clothing
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 1600 - 13 Second Exposure
1. A Camera:
you really need a camera that is capable of taking a long exposure. These days some phones can do that. I don’t know how well long exposures on phones turn out as I have never personally experimented with it. Any DSLR, SLR or a Sony mirrorless camera (or any mirrorless camera with long exposure capabilities) works too. I use a Nikon D610 and D850 - they are both full frame - this means you can use a wide angle or fish eye lense without any of the image getting cut off. My husband (Robert) uses a Sony A7ii which does really well with night photography as well. 2. Lense/Lenses
I like to use a fisheye - but some people don’t like the distortion that occurs with a fish eye lense. In this case I would recommend a wide angle (but keep in mind you need a camera that has a full frame so that non of the image gets cut off). A lot of people love wide angle lenses for night photography. They just allow you to get more of the sky in and therefore more of the Aurora. It is also better if the lense has a wide aperture (Which lets in more light) f/2.8 is pretty great! Any lense you use, will work great. I personally wouldn’t use a super zoom lense because it would be hard to get a nice composition. If you don’t have a DSLR ( or some form of mirrorless camera capable of taking long exposures photos you can rent one for pretty cheap from a place like Mikes Camera. If you do not have a Mikes Camera near you, there is probably another place that rents cameras or lenses as well. Or...If you do have a camera and want a wide angle lense - you can always just rent a lense too. Then if you like the lense, you can ask for it for Christmas or your birthday. 3. Extra batteries:
This is especially important if you are in a super cold climate that gets into the negatives Fahrenheit. The cold will kill your batteries. My Nikon battery will last forever in good weather - but I would suggest having at least two extra Nikon batteries and three or four extras for a mirrorless camera. You can never be too safe! If your camera was to die right before an epic shot - that would be a real bummer that could have been avoided. 4. SD Card:
Don’t forget your SD card. I like to always have a spare just in case my camera doesn’t like that SD card or something else weird happens. I like to bring one with a lot of storage like 256gb and then maybe a 16gb or 32gb one. Also, if you are with others and they run out of space on their SD card you can give them yours and go down like a legend or make a new best friend. 5. Tripod:
This is probably one of the most important parts. This will allow you to take the picture without your camera moving. I mean if you forget your tripod you can always set your camera down on a rock or something, but it doesn’t allow you to compose your photos as well as you can with a tripod. I recommend one with a ball head - I use a Manfrotto aluminum travel one. It folds up really nicely, is light and fits in my carry on. It’s also super light, so it’s a great one to back pack with or hike with as well (especially when your husband is carrying it ). 6. Remote: I actually never use a remote and just put my camera on self timer mode - I use a two second delay. You could even put it on a longer delay if you were worried about it shaking. Robert uses a remote and he likes it. Really, it just comes down to personal preference. Remotes annoy me because they don’t always work with every click. If you want a photo with yourself in them, you have to point it at the camera.
If you do end up getting a remote - I would highly recommend a wireless remote if your camera has that capability. It just gives you a lot more freedom.
The good news is - if you love using a remote and you forgot yours -now you know that you can put your camera on self timer mode.
7. Flashlight or Headlamp
If you want to hike someplace a flashlight or headlamp can be really handy. Sometimes if you need to look at your camera or arrange settings it is also a handy thing to have. I recommend one with a red light on it, as they are not as blinding. Also, be courteous if there are others around shooting the aurora, as you can ruin their exposure which will ruin their picture.
8. Appropriate clothing
This will allow you to stay out longer and get every photo you could possibly want. Because Auroras usually happen so far North - it can get really cold. In Iceland they have a pretty nice climate - but my hair still froze.
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 1600- 13 Second Exposure
CAMERA SETTINGS:
The most important settings:
1. Manual Mode
2. Aperture
3. Shutter Speed
4. ISO
5. Focus
6. Image Quality
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 8 Second Exposure
1. Manual Mode
Set the Camera to manual shooting mode. If you do not know how to do this, you can either look in the manual as every camera is different or google it based on the type of camera that you have.
You will also need to set your lense to manual also. Sometimes you have to do this both on the camera as well as on the lense.
2. Aperture
If you are new to photography and all these terms are like another language to you let me explain it. The best way I got an aperture explained to me was to think of the aperture as the eye of the camera. The wider your eye is open the more it can see and the more light it lets in. This is also true for the camera. When shooting the Aurora the reason you want as much light as possible coming into your camera is because you are shooting at night time and it will reduce how high you need to go with you ISO (which is a whole another beast that I will explain later).
Now the funny thing about the Aperture or what photographers call the fstop is the lower the number. f/2.8 for instance the more the aperture (eye of the camera) is open. Whereas f/22 means that the eye is almost closed and letting in the least amount of light possible.
When shooting the aurora you want the aperture open as wide as possible so an aperture of f/2.8 or lower (a little higher will be okay) is what you need. It really depends on your lenses capability how low (wide) you will be able to go.
3. Shutter Speed
Now this is something that you will have to play around with, based on the light (if there is a moon, no moon, etc.).
Basically the shorter the exposure the more texture you can capture of the aurora. If the Lights are weak you can shoot a longer exposure to get a more blurred version of the Aurora. This is where your artistic license comes in. Obviously, you do not want to overexpose it so much that it is a blown out white picture, at the same time you do not want to underexpose it so much that it is a dark black image. There is a fine balance that you can play with. This is something you might want to do before the aurora comes out - so you can get a fill for the light and then adjust accordingly when she comes out (As the aurora will add more light to the sky). I usually start somewhere between 5" and 10" seconds and then adjust accordingly.
4. ISO
ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain (less noise). Higher ISO is usually for shooting in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds but this can cause more grain to end up in your photo (noise).
When shooting any night photography I do not like to go above an ISO of 3200. That is generally what I will start at and you can bring it up or down depending on your personal preference and how much noise (grain) is acceptable to you in your photo. But 32oo really is a good rule of thumb.
5. Focus
Unless you are going for some really artistic out of focus kind of photo you are going to want to focus before you begin to take your photo.
The best way to do this at night time is first turn your lense and camera to manual focus. Set the focus to infiniti and find something bright to focus on. You can use the moon, a star or a window. I like to use windows because they are the easiest thing for me to tell if it is actually in focus. Then you just turn it ever so slightly until whatever you are focusing on looks clear. Once you get the right focus a little trick I learned was to put a piece of tape on the focus and the camera so that it cannot move. This is especially handy if you are moving your camera around a lot.
If you leave your camera in automatic mode it will refuse to take the photo and that is just annoying.
6. Image Quality
Your camera has a lot of image quality settings. The first thing to do is turn it up to the highest megapixels it can take. Then decide if you want to shoot in JPEG, JPEG FINE or RAW. Only shoot in RAW if you have a software that can post process the image and you have the time and want to do that; It can be a lot of work.
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 1600 - 10 Second Exposure
TIPS AND TRICKS
Now that you have the foundation for a successful Northern lights photographing experience - let me give you some tips and tricks. Of course you will need to know how to find them - check out my other blog post How to Chase the Northern Lights in Iceland.
1. Composing Your Photo
2. Always be prepared
3. Have your camera set before you go out into the cold
4. Cold Weather Tips
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 3200 - 8 Second Exposure
1. Composing Your Photo
I have found that the aurora looks really good when you shoot from the ground or can get something else in your shot; like trees, cabin a boat, etc. Also, the aurora looks super good as a reflection in a body of water. If you have a chance to get it with water - you should! Or, in Iceland there are a lot of waterfalls you could shoot - that would be UHMAYZING!
A little tip on exposure: I was taught that it is always better to underexpose than overexpose. But everyone has a different opinion. The reason I like to underexpose is because you still have all the details still in the photo - meaning you can take things out of the shadows and keep the detail. If you overexpose than all that extra detail is lost and you can never get it back. It really is a matter of preference.
3. Always Be Prepared
The night that we got lucky enough to see the Northern Lights - I could feel it in my bones that it was coming. But seriously, we went to the hot springs in Myvatn and I insisted that we bring our cameras in the trunk just in case lady aurora decided to show up. She did --- While we were in the hot springs - of course we wanted to watch them forever, but we also wanted to photograph them. So...we risked it! We got out, got dressed super quickly (Rob even left our swimsuits he was so excited - we never got them back...) and rushed to our trunk for our camera gear. The reason this was risky is because of the BZ which you can read about in my other blog post - that can switch the aurora off instantly and it may never come back. We started shooting outside of the hot springs to get some photos in, just in case she stopped her dance too early. Then we decided to drive back to our cabin, where most of the photos in this post are from. Luckily she danced for us until the clouds covered her up about five hours later.
The morale of the story: Always be prepared to shoot the aurora - every night you are in Iceland, no matter where you are - have your camera and gear ready just in case she decides to show up.
If you plan on chasing the Northern Lights you can read about how to do that here.
3. Have Your Camera Set Before You Go Out Into The Cold
This is something I manage to always forget to do. But trust me, it is way easier to set your camera without gloves on and in the comfort of your car or accommodation. Obviously you cannot set everything - but do what you can.
4. Cold Weather Tips
Iceland may never get cold enough to use these specific tips - but they are worth knowing, especially if you are going someplace extra cold. Like someplace that gets into the negatives.
If you can, do not put your camera in and out of your car - or a heated place. This will make it more likely that your camera fogs up. Also if you have to be near the lense hold your breath. This is something that I always forgot when I was in Alaska. I kept having to rub my lense off from the fog I created by breathing on it. This is a problem because it could cause smudges and what not in your photo.
If you are in a super cold place - only touch the tripod with gloves as it could burn you from being so cold if you touch it with your skin.
Bring a large ziploc bag that you can put your camera in afterwards along with a moisture wicking product like damprid which will allow the moisture to leave your camera overnight and not damage it. We did not do this in Iceland - but we did in Alaska and we will in Canada because of how cold it gets.
Also don't forget those extra batteries because the cold will kill your battery life.
NIKON - Aperture: f/2.8 - ISO 1600 - 6 Second Exposure
Is there anything I missed? Or someone else might find helpful? Leave it in the comments so that I can add it to the post at a later date.
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