Here are a couple more photographs of the northern lights that I wanted to share from our recent trip to Alaska. Photographing the aurora was such a different experience than it is from northern Minnesota. The main thing was that the lights just seemed to be so much brighter. Even though this wasn't a "Storm" level aurora, the lights were pretty bright and I was able to photograph them at 10 second exposure times at ISO 800 to 1000 using my f/4 lens.
Here in northern Minnesota, I've rarely been able to photograph them at such settings. Usually I have to shoot at 30 seconds at ISO 1600. Sometimes I'm able to get good exposures at ISO 1600 and 15 seconds, or ISO 800 and 20 to 30 second exposures, but this is the first time I was able to photograph them at ISO 800 and 10 seconds. I can only imagine how awesome the lights must look in Alaska during a full-blown aurora storm. In the first of these two images, I can see the shape of a bear within the lights. I actually didn't notice it at first, but Jessica pointed it out to me. Can you see it?
2 comments:
Travis, where in Alaska did you take this picture and what time of year. I want to plan a trip to take pictures of the Aurora in 2015. Would it be possible for you to do a more in-depth blog on photographing this subject? Thanks
Hi John,
As mentioned in the title for this blog entry, these aurora images were taken in Haines, Alaska. They were taken the night of November 15, 2014. Basically, the good aurora season in Alaska is from October through March. Summer doesn't work well because the daylight hours are too long. This was my first time photographing the aurora in Alaska. I've photographed them extensively in northern Minnesota, where I live. There are aurora tours that are organized in various places in Alaska, mostly through Fairbanks I believe.
Travis
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