A Magical Night

Above image: "Aurora Borealis, Grand Portage Village"

This is my first northern lights image made with the Canon 5D Mark II. I've been sooooo anxious to see northern lights ever since getting the 5D II in March of last year. I had heard that there was going to be a heightened chance of seeing northern lights over Friday and Saturday night this past weekend, so I made it a point to stay up late and check the sky about every 15 minutes. I was about to give up on Friday night when I checked the sky one last time at 2:00 a.m. and lo and behold, there was the aurora! I had my camera gear ready, so I grabbed it and went down to the beach in front of my house. I hopped in my boat and headed out to Grand Portage Island, which is straight out in front of my house.

The shoreline I live on faces to the south, so shooting from shore doesn't give the best perspective for photographing the aurora. From the island, I'm able to shoot due North and thus have a much better view of the lights. Its a good thing I was prepared and ready to go, as once I arrived on the island I was only able to make about a half dozen images of the northern lights before a large cloud bank moved in. For the brief moments that the event lasted, it certainly was an amazing sight to see. Complementing the lights was some of the calmest water that I've ever seen on Lake Superior. Also contributing to the WOW factor of the night was the light of the full moon coming from behind me as I made this image. I used my Canon 17-40mm lens with an exposure time of 25 seconds, aperture f4, ISO 400.



Above image: "May moon over Pete's Island"

After I had photographed the aurora looking to the north above the village of Grand Portage, I turned around and saw this incredible moonscape laid out before me looking to the south. This image was an unexpected treat of the evening as I had only been expecting to capture the northern lights, not a nice moonscape as well! This image was made with a Canon EF 17-40 lens, aperture f4, ISO 800. Exposure length was 20 seconds. White balance was set to fluorescent to bring out the blue in the sky. And yes, those are stars in the sky :-)