Northern Lights

luvbug080688

New member
Greetings Everyone!

I will be going to Norway very, very soon to see the Northern Lights. I recently purchased a Nikon D3100 camera and was wondering what your thoughts the best settings would be for it. I am brand new with this camera and SLR cameras in general so any help would be appreciated!
 

Boomer

New member
Two important tips:
1 - Put the lens on manual focus and find something far away to manually set the focus to infinity. The D3100 won't let you take a shot with autofocus turned on if it can't find the focus (like lights far away in the sky) and all the way clockwise is not the infinity setting.

2 - Turn off noise reduction. The noise reduction function in the camera takes as long to process as the shutter speed. OK for 1/250 of a second, but not so good for a 30 second exposure. If noise is a problem, there are third party programs that run on your PC to process the image.

Good luck and be sure to post pictures!
 

Berkerk

Senior Member
It's going to be quite a list:
Tripod (ball head recommended) - essential as you will be doing long exposures. Look for a tall one as you will be pointing the camera at the sky and need to fit yourself under it. Also ensure that when mounted, the cameras' battery cover is not obstructed.
Lens - wide, fast, sharp and with minimal vignetting or what ever is within your budget or currently attached to your camera. Make sure to remove any filters, protective or otherwise, as these can produce concentric circles on your images.
Shutter Release - not essential but really useful, get a cabled release rather than a remote release as batteries freeze quickly. Alternatively use the cameras' self timer, either way you're trying to reduce camera shake when triggering the exposure.
Spare Battery - essential, you will need to keep a battery warm at all times, so a second is required unless you want to wait while warming your battery back up!
Memory Card - you can get Extreme cards that are designed to function in low temperatures but I'm not sure of the need.
Other - head lamp (get one with a red light that preserves night vision), hand warmers, wool insoles, thick soled boots, down jacket (layers are less important than insulation when standing around) non-cotton/natural under layer.

Technique:
Focus - With the camera set to single point focus and preferably using the centre focal point, pre-focus to infinity by auto-focusing on a distant object that has contrast and then switch your lens to manual and use focus lock if the lens has it or tape the focus ring to the body of the lens to prevent movement. Alternatively use Live View to focus on a bright distant object (moon or stars) when at location. Auto-focus on the object and with Live View zoomed in manually adjust until sharp.
ISO - you'll want high ISO, around 800 will be good but you may want to experiment with quality/results for your specific camera before you leave.
Shutter Speed - Bulb mode, activated with cable shutter release or camera self timer. You will have to make a decision as to how long to maintain the exposure depending on how bight the Aurora are on that night. Read up on Histograms as these will tell you how your timing is effecting each exposure.
Aperture - As wide as you can go with your lens at the focal length you are using.
Noise Reduction - if your camera has it, use it.
Format - RAW you'll want to process them and RAW contains the most information to work with. If you're not sure how to just yet then shoot in RAW + JPEG mode but keep your RAW files for later processing.

Tips:
- Always keep a battery warm;
- Remove lens filter;
- Shoot between 10PM and 2AM;
- Locate yourself far away from light pollution;
- Include some foreground interest; maybe get a flash to light up close objects (this is a whole other subject though!)
- Check your histogram
- There's an iPhone app for tracking the Aurora, although I'm not sure if it's any good.

Oh and good luck, when I went to see them I slept through the best display of the week!
 

luvbug080688

New member
thanks for all of the advice! now hopefully i will be able to get a good picture or two....if not, i suppose the memories will be good as well.
 

airman85b

Senior Member
It is tricky. I lived in Iceland for 2 years and could see it nightly. My friend had an SLR film not digital and could never get it right. But with the new Digital ones it should be easier. Good luck because it is really beautiful!
 

Trevski

Senior Member
I Recently photographed the northern lights for the first time in Iceland, I used my D7000 with a tokina 11-16 m lens, shot in bulb mode with cable release and camera mounted on tripod, I got my best results at around f8, ISO 1600 and exposures in the region of 25 seconds, as previously mentioned by others I used manual focus and had previously focused on a point on the horizon during daylight hours.

My advice would be to scout around in the daylight for the spot you want to shoot from and find some foreground interest I was in Iceland for 4 days and only saw the lights once, and unfortunately It was the first night and I hadn't really found myself a great spot, consequently while I did get some decent pictures of the lights they are pretty average shots due to the boring foreground.

I'm far from an expert but hopefully this might be of some use to you

Finally dress up warm, I thought I had plenty of clothes on before i went outside and yet I was still very cold!!
 

Trevski

Senior Member
I'd be happy to post a few up when I get home later, though please don't be expecting any master pieces!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Trevski

Senior Member
A couple of the pictures I took, unfortunately I suffered from light pollution, even though the red tint you can see is from lights many miles away, also as I said I have nothing in the way of foreground interest, I'm not particularly proud of them but was pleased to have caught them at all, had originally hoped to view them for my own pleasure the first time I saw them and concentrate on photo's on subsequent nights, this however due to cloud cover was the only occasion we saw the lights, and was a somewhat under prepared attempt at catching them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1330367223.099835.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1330367223.099835.jpg
    185 KB · Views: 2,038
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1330367248.836824.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1330367248.836824.jpg
    359.2 KB · Views: 1,361

Lacey

New member
Im currently looking to purchase a Nikon DSLR with the main purpose of it being to photograph the northern lights, Im looking for advise on which one to buy and with the best lens for it too. I have worked with a Nikon D700 before but found it VERY technical.
 

patrick in memphis

Senior Member
Hey Trotsky do u still have any exit/metadata on these auroras.I have a coworker with a house in Alaska and he just got a good camera so looking for setting to get clear bright images
 

everprentice

Senior Member
I am lucky to have photographed Auroras. Here are some things I personally think is necessary.

1. Good winter gear. You don't know how long you will be standing in the cold so survival is top priority.
2. Charge your batteries, including your phone. Again, in case of emergency you need to call for help.
3. Flashlight. You need to see where you are going.
4. A good, sturdy tripod. It might get windy and it might get very cold turning your tripod adjustment knobs is work.
5. Fast wide lens. I use an UWA and a fast 35mm f/1.8 DX on MF to infinity. I use the former for long exposures and I use the 35mm for shorter exposures. I like shorter exposures because the colored striations in the sky are evident in the resulting photograph. I then take a panorama using multiple exposures.

Enjoy shooting and keep warm!
 
Top