
Capturing the Northern Lights - tfordifference
http://www.travelfordifference.com/capturing-northern-lights/
======
anon1253
On the very rare occasion I get to photograph the Northern lights in the
Netherlands [1]. Conditions have to be just right, and you can almost never
make it out with the naked eye. But the camera does wonders.

A couple of tips:

\- Avoid the full moon, it's not worth doing it unless the Aurora is strong
and you're in Iceland or something [5]

\- Watch the NOAA satellites [2,6]

\- Under moderate light pollution a CLS or UHC filter can help, they make
clip-on ones for Canon and Nikon [3,4]. Although nothing beats dark skies.

[1]:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/joelkuiper/albums/721576649734...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/joelkuiper/albums/72157664973497160)

[2]:
[https://twitter.com/JoelKuiper/lists/aurora](https://twitter.com/JoelKuiper/lists/aurora)

[3]: [http://www.astronomik.com/en/filter-gegen-
lichtverschmtzung-...](http://www.astronomik.com/en/filter-gegen-
lichtverschmtzung-filters-against-lightpollution-lpr/astronomik-cls-
filter.html)

[4]: [https://www.cyclopsoptics.com/filters/stc-astro-
multispectra...](https://www.cyclopsoptics.com/filters/stc-astro-multispectra-
clip-filter-canon-full-frame/)

[5]:
[https://secure.flickr.com/photos/joelkuiper/24662326646/in/a...](https://secure.flickr.com/photos/joelkuiper/24662326646/in/album-72157661743016714/)

[6]: [https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/](https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/)

~~~
dheera
If you are in truly favorable conditions it is actually very easy to see the
northern lights with the human eye. It is very in-your-face, ghostly, and hard
to miss. Northern Norway and Sweden are smack in the middle of the aurora belt
and have a much greater chance of such conditions than the Netherlands, and
you see highly-visible auroras almost every couple of weeks when there is a
clear sky, and less-visible auroras almost every day there is a clear sky. I
would recommend Abisko followed by Tromso if you want near-ideal conditions.

On less-favorable days what you say is true: it is hard to see with the naked
eye and a camera works wonders.

~~~
BurningFrog
As someone who grew up in far north Sweden, a few caveats:

1\. Clear skies are not very common. Ours is a cloudy land.

2\. You also need a firmly set sun. This rules out ~6 months.

3\. The clear arctic winter nights that often provide a spectacular show are
_really_ cold.

4\. Ideally, you'd be outside of city lights.

That said, the Northern Lights are among the coolest things you can ever see.
Photos don't do justice. I would definitely recommend it over Midnight Sun,
which at the end of the day look exactly like any other sun.

~~~
dheera
Yep, I've been there. I should say though:

1\. Abisko has way more clear nights than almost any other place in the arctic
circle. Yes, it can be cloudy, but your chances in, say, Canada are
comparatively very grim.

2\. This applies to just about anywhere within the arctic circle.

3\. The cold winters of arctic Sweden are much, much milder than similar
latitudes of Russia or Canada. That there exist plenty of towns, an
electrified train line, and actual infrastructure says a lot about this.

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rbritton
The "500 rule" [0] is useful to know too. Without it, you risk star trails at
higher exposure times. Then there's the need to avoid light pollution. This
map [1] isn't super recent, but it's good enough for most use. And lastly,
just having enough solar activity [2] to see them, especially at lower
latitudes.

[0]: [https://petapixel.com/2015/01/06/avoid-star-trails-
following...](https://petapixel.com/2015/01/06/avoid-star-trails-
following-500-rule/)

[1]:
[https://djlorenz.github.io/astronomy/lp2006/](https://djlorenz.github.io/astronomy/lp2006/)

[2]: [http://www.aurora-service.org/aurora-forecast/](http://www.aurora-
service.org/aurora-forecast/)

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Dylanfm
I'm lucky to have a good view northwards off the northern coast of Scotland
with very little light pollution. Occasionally an AuroraWatch UK alert will
come through when conditions are right - little or no moonlight and clear
skies. I have some nice lenses (EF 35mm f1.4, Tokina 11-16mm f2.8) and a
trusty Canon 7D. I think I still have quite some time before feeling confident
taking photos of the aurora. In real life it's moving quite subtly. The camera
settings used to capture the aurora (and minimise noise from high ISO) result
in the movement being captured as motion blur. Hoping to find the sweet spot
soon.

~~~
bogomipz
Where about on the Northern Coast do you begin to get Aurora views? I hadn't
considered Scotland before as an option. Do you get a fair amount then?

~~~
Dylanfm
When there's a very strong aurora I think folks even see it as far south as
the border. That's pretty uncommon though. I'm located right near Dunnet, the
most northerly point of the mainland. Aside from summer when it's light most
of the day, you may be able to see the aurora a few times a month. It's up to
chance though, as the conditions need to come together. Strong auroras are
less common. There are a couple of good Facebook groups if you search "aurora"
and "scotland" or "uk". The Shetland webcams are pretty good too:
[http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/aurora-
archive](http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/aurora-archive)

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mattbee
On holiday in Iceland with my wife right now and it has been 100% cloudy the
whole time :( We're going to the Aurora museum as a consolation prize. Very
impressive pictures though!

~~~
shanemhansen
It was 100% cloudy when I was there in Sep, then at 2am in a crappy cabin
outside REK we had a clear night and took some amazing pictures. Don't give up
hope!

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avenoir
Good job guys. You killed the page :). Here is the cached version [1]

[1]
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0LC0mqp...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0LC0mqpiwsQJ:www.travelfordifference.com/capturing-
northern-lights/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

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okket
Aurora Borealis from Space (ISS/NASA) is also an amazing view:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBJAR3-UvSQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBJAR3-UvSQ)

~~~
niklasrde
Not exactly easy to do for us average joes.. Maybe one day!

