During the cold, dark months of winter, the hunt of Aurora Borealis has surely become one of the hottest trends in different north countries, around the world. A lot of years now an increasing percentage of visitors pay a lot of money to watch and capture the prestige of this spectacular phenomenon.
Those that have witnessed the Northern Lights in all their glory do of course understand the rush and appeal. Their shapes, colors and varying forms and intensity can surely get you to stay out in the cold winter night, searching and staring at the sky for hours over and over again.
But what Aurora Borealis, truly is? The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. More scientifically accurate Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind and sometimes they are strong enough to alter the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma. It has been a great deal for discussion, how travelers can capture efficiency the glory of Northern Lights. A lot of people have been disappointed about the failed trials of capturing them.
So what are the basic steps you have to follow?
These guide steps below are aimed for beginners, who are using digital camera with an option for Manual settings.
-First of all you should set to the manual setting the for camera and the lens. Then turn off Image Stabilization, which is the button you will find next to "manual" on the lens. Of course do not forget to set the Flash off! We need the manual settings because automatic is useless in dark and Northern Lights.
-Secondly we set the ISO (light sensitivity of the sensor) around 1600 at the beginning and then you can try a higher what it's more preferable for you.
-Next we have to set the aperture (f-stop). You can start with 2.8 but you can try the lowest f-number you have or get. The aperture is responsible for how much or better, how wide your lens is open. The size of the opening is responsible for how much light is passing through the lens. The lower the f-number the bigger the opening. To capture the Auroras we need the biggest opening we have access to.
-Then about the shutter speed. We can set it for a start at 20 seconds. Shuuter speed is about the time our lens stays open and absorbs light. So we are talk about exposure time and for the Lights we need 15-30 sec. for soft and 1-6 sec for strong lights, shutter speed.
-Fifth and very important. Do NOT try photoshoot the Auroras without a tripod. You will be very disappointed if you go set all the essential things and the result be blurry!
Mount your camera in a tripod. The way for the best location might be difficult to access but you can carry a light tripod. By holding your breath and keeping it still is not gonna help. We said that exposure time is around 30 sec. Imagine holding your breath in the cold or wind for half a minute while holding a heavy camera. #not You are gonna move and the photo will be blurry. End of the story.
- Then we set the zoom and focus. We zoom out because we need the lowest mm setting in our lens. Also you can set the infinity symbol, if you have one. Don't forget to always zoom out completely, the Northern Lights occupy a large space in the sky, and we want to capture as much of it as we can.
-Last step is about the remotely release of the shutter. You can use a remote control or you can set a 2 sec. self-time. We talked earlier about the moving problems which can cause the photography result. So if you can just avoid any shake at your camera after you release the shutter, just to it.
Maybe the most important of these steps is to get used to your camera and make a lot of shot tests to learn how your camera behave. For example if your image is too bright, lower your shutter speed or ISO. If your image is too dark, up your shutter speed or ISO.
Have a nice and safe Northern lights hunt!!
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