Aurora advice needed!!

NewCameraGirl

NewCameraGirl

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Following an accident payout, I have purchased myself a Cannon 55D and a holiday to Iceland in 5 weeks to fulfil my dream of seeing the Northern Lights.

I have always been able to point and click using Auto with other cameras and have gotten some lovely (albeit always Lucky) shots. For this holiday however, I really want to get this right, and if poss I don't want to rely on Auto to catch this wonderful phenomonom. So I baught a good camera (I think anyway!) with the aim of learning how to do this properly!

As the photo course I booked to help get to grip with just the basics has just cancelled on me, I am now really concerned!

Can I ask anyone out there, who may have done the Aurora, what the basics that I need to know are? I have just a passing knowledge of Shutter speed, I kind of know ISO, but aperture has always been a blind spot, no matter how often I read about it!! I have a tripod, and assume that would be a must.... But what else? I believe the lights flash quickly across the sky, so I want to avoid a big green blur if at all possible.....

Can anyone help me get my dream pic of my dream event?! Please!
 
I have done some night photography in the past, but this is slightly different. Looking at the exif data on his shots they are generally between the following settings:

Shutter 1.3-2 seconds
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 800-1600

Seeing the exif he has used a 24mm F1.4L, which is about £1200's worth of lens. To match the exposure with your kit lens (f3.5@18mm) you would need to up the ISO. However if you are serious about copying what he has done you will need a fast aperture wide angle. I would recommend hiring the lens for the trip from somewhere like lensfor hire.com
 
Hi all
I'm also interested in this thread as I'm off to Norway on Friday hoping to see the lights too. I went into my local jessops on Sunday and was told that the best thing to do is use a polarising filter and a small f stop. I have a Nikon d5000 and was advised that out of my lenses ( 18-105, 55-200, 70-300 tamron and m Nikon 105 f2.8), my best option would be to use the 105 f2.8 with the polarising filter.
I also both some cokin ND filters to capture waterfalls etc on slow shutter speed.

Any other advice would be most gratefully received
 
objohn said:
Hi all
I'm also interested in this thread as I'm off to Norway on Friday hoping to see the lights too. I went into my local jessops on Sunday and was told that the best thing to do is use a polarising filter and a small f stop. I have a Nikon d5000 and was advised that out of my lenses ( 18-105, 55-200, 70-300 tamron and m Nikon 105 f2.8), my best option would be to use the 105 f2.8 with the polarising filter.
I also both some cokin ND filters to capture waterfalls etc on slow shutter speed.

Any other advice would be most gratefully received
Click to expand...

I would say you have been given some very poor advice...

You certainly will not need a polarising filter and you should be opening up the aperture to maximise the light available from the aurora which is actually quite weak, you will also need fairly long exposures of several seconds and therefore a tripod and remote release would be advisable.

I would also suggest using a wide angle lens to capture the lights with a bit of foreground interest.

Linky
 
I managed to get PotM in Astronomy Now magazine with my aurora pics - and that was with a Nikon Bridge camera.

25%20DSCN0456_filtered.jpg


When I go again I'll do -

Wide angle lens, wide open. Probably my Tokina 11-16, or Canon 10-22. A fairly long shutter speed - probably 15s to start off with. ISO800 to start. Then I'd chimp and alter settings as required.
 
Im very surprised Jessops staff would advise a polarising filter, you just cant get the staff these days !!!! maybe they thought you were photographing POLARbears .

First a sturdy tripod and maybe weigh it down with a ruck sack , I would agree with earlier comments , start 800 ISO use a wide angle lens a 24mm would be good your 18mm is even better. (even 50mm is ok if that is what folks have) use wide open or maybe one stop down from its widest aperture. Start with a 6 or 8 sec exposure look at the results, then do a longer exposure, look at the results again you may find 10 ,12 ,15 sec is good. SHOOT IN RAW then you can play with the images any way you want on your computer . Post production in RAW is like being able to almost take the photograph again there is so much more you can do that is impossible with a JPEG.
Take loads of shots with may different exposures, fill up your cards, go berserk ! . Every shot will not be usable buy if you take loads you WILL have some you can do things with and a handful of absolute stunners that need nothing done to them 'cos the exposure was just right.
 
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Well I got back a few days ago and can only say thanks for the advice. My biggest issue was keeping the camera still. We were on a cruise ship so even with a tripod it was a challenge. I have circular light trails from the stars! I always shoot in raw so will be doing a bit of pp in the next few days and will share a few pics for you to see.
Most shots were taken at ISO 1600 f3.5/20 secs at 18mm. I tried a few with my f2.8 105mm lens but 105 was a bit too close although I was able to reduce the shutter speed and reduce a bit of the movement

I used the polarising filter for day time shots and it did make the sky appear nicely.
I also had a play using a cokin Graduated ND8 filter to get some nice sea/sky shots which some worked and some didn't, but I got to have a good play and learned a lot about my camera.

I will post some shots by the end of the week!

Thanks all
 
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