Aurora photography questions

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insomniac

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Hi all,

I'm trying to capture some northern lights with a D90, 10-24mm and a sturdy tripod. I just wanted a couple of tips / suggestions on the following settings:
1. Should I set Long Exposure NR to On? Or shall I leave it Off?
2. Should I be using the RGB histogram?
3. What White Balance setting shall I use, should I just leave it on Auto?
4. I presume I should cap the ISO at 800? Or can the D90 go up to 1600?

Thanks in advance.
 
Part copied and pasted from another thread I have just replied on:
.. I found ISO800-1600, f3.5 or wider if you have it (I was using a Canon 10-22) and anywhere between 20-40 seconds worked for me.

At ISO 160 and f18 as suggested, in the conditions I was in (see my avatar), you would have needed over 5 minutes! I would also disagree about the long exposure NR. I used that the first few shots I took of the lights, but if you are working with a 30-50 second exposure, your camera then locks up for the same amount of time preventing a shot.

Given how the lights can develop, that could be frustrating. so I turned it off.

Oh, and I would shoot raw and deal with colour in PP. Very handy with the lights.
 
I've posted this in another thread

"First caveat, I've not actually photographed it yet...but there are two routes you can go down, a long exposure on a lower ISO this will result in you picking up the glow of the AB as it moves around the sky however you'll loose a lot of the definition and shapes of the AB

Alternatively you can shoot with a large aperture and a high ISO to make the exposure as short as possible and keep the shapes of the AB in the sky, personally I'd be shooting a mixture of the two styles however speaking in general terms I normally prefer the high ISO short exposures as the shape of the AB is spectacular..."

In camera noise reduction should IMO never ever ever be turned on, it does nothing that you cannot do with more control in editing and may cause you to miss that perfect shot because for as long as you spend shooting you'll spend that time waiting for the camera to let you take your next photo
 
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