Technique Tuesday: Shooting the Aurora Borealis

Apr 12 2022

Not long ago my employees received the next query in regards to the above picture:

“Was this photograph a single shot, an HDR composite, or some other system?”

Limited Remedy:

this is from the excellent ol’ days when you shot a slide (single publicity in this circumstance) and waited a couple of months to see if anything at all turned out…

Medium respond to:

All the aspects – Canon EOS-1N, Canon EF 17-35mm lens, f/2.8 at 30 seconds, Fujichrome Provia 400 film, Gitzo G1325 tripod.

Loooong Reply:

The aurora borealis, or the “northern lights” as they are frequently called is an atmospheric phenomenon that happens as electrically charged particles from the sun make gases glow in the higher atmosphere. In spite of the dryness of this scientific rationalization, it is difficult to look at the aurora borealis without experiencing a feeling of wonderment and mysticism. It remains a single of the most stunning sights in the natural environment.

To get this image, I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska, then drove 8 hours north to the Brooks Range on the popular pipeline highway to Prudhoe Bay. The Brooks Selection lies inside the Arctic Circle and thus offers a more predictable likelihood to see the aurora borealis. I timed my journey to coincide with a fifty percent moon for the reason that the snow-clad selection would be appropriately illuminated by the 50 percent moon’s light-weight. A full moon may well basically have been far too bright during the needed 30-2nd publicity. I discovered that even with the actuality that the aurora is in steady motion, a 30-next exposure is ordinarily quickly ample to generate proper publicity and reasonably sharp traces inside of the displays. When I photographed this show, I was sad with its coloration, which appeared to be a uninteresting, pale environmentally friendly. When I returned household and designed the movie, I was delightfully stunned to learn that the movie picked up the reds.

This picture is highlighted in the guide “Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky” as properly as becoming offered as a fine are print.

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