Aurora Photography: Essential Techniques and Settings for Everyone

One of nature's wondrous spectacles, the aurora. If you want to forever cherish its beautiful appearance, taking photographs is essential. This time, we will explore how to effectively capture auroras and some helpful tips.

Aurora Photography: Image Source - ChatGPT4

Auroras, unlike when viewed with the naked eye, are difficult to capture well in photographs. This is because the dim auroral light is challenging to capture in the dark night sky environment. To overcome this, appropriate equipment and settings are required.

It's difficult to expect perfect aurora shots with a general camera or smartphone. Using a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) or mirrorless camera is best. In particular, full-frame DSLR cameras have high ISO sensitivity, allowing you to capture clear aurora photos at a professional level even in dark nighttime environments.

Besides a DSLR camera, special equipment and settings are necessary. A wide-angle lens allows you to capture the entire aurora across the vast sky. You can also capture Iceland's majestic natural scenery as the foreground or background, creating stunning photos.

The lens aperture value (F-number) is also important. Choosing a lens with a bright aperture of F2.8 or lower allows more light to enter the camera sensor, capturing even faint auroras clearly.

A tripod and a wireless remote shutter are essential. By firmly mounting the camera on a tripod and slowing down the shutter speed, even faint auroras can receive enough light. Using a shutter remote prevents image blur caused by camera shake when pressing the shutter directly.

In windy Iceland, using a remote instead of pressing the shutter directly is safer. It's also necessary to cover the camera and lens with waterproof covers as a precaution against the weather. Be aware that the cold can drastically reduce battery life, so it's important to bring spare batteries.

Appropriate white balance settings are crucial for aurora photography. Instead of automatic white balance, manually setting it to around 3500-4000K (Kelvin) can capture natural aurora colors. Utilizing the 'fluorescent' white balance can also capture the aurora close to how it looks to the naked eye.

Pay attention to shutter speed and ISO sensitivity settings. Setting the aperture to F2.8, ISO to 1600, and shutter speed to about 5 seconds can capture clear auroras. However, you may need to adjust these settings depending on the weather and the scene being captured.

If the sky is cloudy or the aurora is faint, you need to slow down the shutter speed and increase the ISO. Conversely, in bright conditions, you should lower the ISO or increase the shutter speed to prevent image degradation due to overexposure.

When the aurora is dancing and moving, you can increase the shutter speed to 5 seconds or more to create a bokeh effect and express the movement. When doing this, be careful to avoid overexposure and turn off the flash in night mode.

To prevent camera shake when pressing the shutter, use a shutter remote and manually focus to capture both the sharp aurora and the foreground. Shooting in RAW format is also beneficial for post-processing the image.

You can also capture auroras with a smartphone without expensive equipment. By using specialized apps, you can replicate the DSLR camera mode with your smartphone for clear aurora photography. A representative app is 'Northern Lights Photo Taker'.

Finding a good spot is also important. The aurora's appearance varies depending on weather conditions. It's ideal to capture a vibrant aurora on a clear, cloudless day when activity is high. Shooting in remote, sparsely populated areas or rural locations away from light pollution is more effective.

With the appropriate photography equipment and settings, you can capture the aurora's mysterious beauty. We hope you become a true artist who creates masterpiece-like aurora photos even in challenging environments.