Last night we had a G4 magnetic storm, which translates to KP8 on the aurora forecast. What that means is most of the lower 48 could see the aurora last night, and for many folks it was the first time they have seen the aurora borealis. This spring we had a G5 storm and photographers were photographing the aurora in about every state. But what are the tips to capturing the aurora?
After being out all last night, today seemed like a good day to talk about aurora. Every photo on this blog post I took last night, and the good news is the aurora forecast is looking good again for much of the lower 48. So here goes:
Predicting the aurora. There are tons of online websites, weather apps and NOAA resources to help you predict the aurora. If you want to keep it simple, just get one app, My Aurora Forecast. This simple app has live webcams, maps showing the location and intensity of the aurora, current cloud conditions and the KP forecast. You often hear about the ‘KP’ level with aurora forecasts. These range from softer displays at KP2 to last night which was KP8, basically the sky blew up. This app will tell you your chances of seeing the aurora in your location.
Northern lights in Alaska
Camera gear. You need a solid tall tripod, a camera and a wide angle lens. I like tripods that extend above my head since I may be pointing up all night, and pushing the legs into snow can make a six foot tripod into a five foot tripod. Many cameras will work well, and those that have better high ISO performance are nice for the long exposures needed. I use Nikon Z9s and Z8s, but there are plenty of cameras that work just fine. You need a fast lens, F2.8 or faster, and super wide angle is great. Our favorite lens is the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8. When you are trying to capture reflections in the lake and the aurora high in the sky 14mm is really nice. If you have a smaller display then maybe you zoom into 24mm for a tighter shot. I also really like our 20mm F1.8. This lens is fast, and I can shoot at very quick shutter speeds and lower ISO settings. And by the way, iPhones do a pretty good job of capturing bright auroras, give it a shot!
Focusing at night. For some mirrorless camera users all you have to do is turn your camera off and then back on and the lens will default to infinity focus (only if you are using back button focus; shutter button focus won’t work this way). You can manually focus on stars, or maybe a lit building at night. You can also focus to infinity during the day and make note of this position on your lens so you can set it at night. Composing your shot in the dark can be difficult since you can’t see anything. Just point it in the general direction, take a shot and review the image. You can make adjustments according to what you see on your LCD playback. I often have to level horizons in editing after a night shoot.
Northern lights in Alaska
Camera settings. Here is an important consideration. Shoot as fast as you can with reasonable ISO settings. Faster shutter speeds, say 8 seconds and faster, will produce better definition in those surreal aurora displays. But with subtle displays you may need to shoot at 15-20 seconds. You may only see a faint color in the sky, but after a 15 second exposure the sky is bright green. My starting exposure is often ISO 2000, 10 seconds at F2.8. I’ll evaluate the exposure, and make adjustments. Be careful not to overexpose the green areas on bright displays. Last night during our KP8 event we were shooting at 4 seconds, F2.8 at ISO1250. Be careful about shaking the camera when you hit the shutter button. I set a two second shutter delay to avoid any vibration from hitting the button. Or you could use a cable release.
Composition. Auroras come in two styles, those with a ground element and those without. I like to have the ground, trees, lakes or something in my foreground to anchor the image and give it context. But last night the corona overhead displays were so good I just pointed up into the sky and shot. I really like images that have nice spruce tree silhouettes or aurora reflections in lakes and ponds.
Tonight is supposed to be good again! Make sure to bring extra batteries and plenty of flash cards, it could be epic!