Northern Lights Photography

Today a fellow photographer and I were talking about her upcoming trip to Iceland! Lucky her! I hope she has clear skies and an opportunity to photograph the night sky and hopefully northern lights. If you live above the 45th parallel (sometimes below) you have opportunities to shoot the northern lights as well! If conditions are right you want to be ready so here are my tips for capturing the northern lights in a photograph using a DSLR Camera:

-tripod is a must (of course)

-use your wedest lens

-if possible get into position before dark and set up camera

-put camera to manual mode

-turn off auto focus

-turn of Image Stabalization (vibration control) it creates a slight bit of movement and can ruin the sharpness of the long exposure

-use a cable release

-set camera to two second delay

-focus to infinity. This is tricky as every cameras "infinity" ∞ is not correct. with auto focus turned off focus on the furthest thing away you can. If it is dark already find a point of light (might have to be a star) When you have perfect focus lock the lens. Many photographers will carry some gaffers tape or painters tape to use on the lens so it does not accidentally get knocked out of focus

-set camera to 30 second shutter speed. (last stop before bulb)

-set aperture to between 2.8 and 5.6

-ISO between 800 and 3200 (lower is better if it is working for you of course)

-BIG TIP: Go to home depot and buy a headlamp that has a red light setting. The best one we have found it by "COAST" dual color it's like $14. When messing with your camera in the dark you want to only use the red light option. It will allow your eyes to stay adjusted to the dark and not interfere with the other photographers around you. This one has separate for the white light and red light so you don't have to hit a button several times till you cycle through the light settings. I'll send you a picture of it.

-If there is moisture in the air (snow, dew, etc) you might want to have a scarf on hand to lay over the camera

-If no northern lights show up don't give up, the night sky is full of potential for great photos of stars, milkyway, star trails (30+ minute exposures)