Simple Aurora Photography Tips
/in a few weeks - Sept 18th - Oct 2, 2022 - I will be teaching on a ship based photography workshop along the Greenland coast. We have a good chance of seeing the northern lights at this time of year and I want to share a few tips from my presentation on Aurora Photography.
A lens offering a focal length between 12mm to 24mm is best - it could be a prime lens fixed at one focal length in that range or a zoom lens that at least partially overlaps that range. A maximum aperture of at least f/2.8 makes it easier to keep your ISO lower. Lenses good for astrophotography are great for aurora.
For our ship based workshop our shutter speed is going to be limited by the ship’s movement. 0.5 seconds might be the longest possible shutter speed for sharp shots. On more stable platforms you can go longer but as you increase your shutter speed above 2 seconds you start to lose the interesting detail in the aurora. Ultimately shutter speed and ISO will be determined by the strength/brightness of the aurora.
Suggested Shutter Speed for Aurora - These are starting values
Bright fast moving aurora - Shutter speed between 1/4 and 1 second to capture the fine detail
Bright with slow movement - 1 second to 4 seconds
Faint with slow movement - 4 seconds to 8 seconds
Faint & distant - 8 seconds to 25 seconds
Check those first shots - Zoom in to make sure your focus is accurate. Look at your histogram to check your exposure. - watch for spikes on the right signifying areas that are over exposed. Or if all of the data is stuck far left you should increase your ISO or shutter speed to achieve a brighter image.
