Northern Lights Photography

[Goody13]

I will be heading off to Norway soon in the hope of seeing and photographing the Northern Lights. Some of the tours they organise out there are marketed as photography tours and include what they refer to as "Photo tips".

Is there anything special about photographing the Northern Lights that you wouldn't know from normal night time photography? I have done a lot of railway related night photography in the past with a fair measure of success, mainly film based, but have also realised that digital night photography doesn't need so much overexposing like film, and I have taken successful night town shots with my DSLR.

Therefore, my question is, do I need to do anything different when photographing the Northern Lights (if I see them!), or are the "photo tips" on these excursions just a ploy to extract more money from gullible tourists, as I suspect?

 

[anwa]

If you're reasonably familiar with night time/very low light photography then you'll be OK. I also suspect that their photo tips will comprise of "use a tripod and a long shutter speed"!

There's a lot of luck involved in photographing the Northern lights - I spent a week in Swedish Lapland last year and although we had clear skies for 5 nights there were only two nights where the Northern lights were visible. You have to be vigilant as they can appear for 20 minutes and disappear for a few hours. Bear in mind they are always shifting shape, position and intensity so getting a good shot depends on the whims of nature! Just one tip - get some foreground interest in the shots.

 

[Goody13]

Thanks for that. It's pretty much as I expected regarding the tips but it did get me thinking.

Now I just need to hope for clear skies, solar activity and be able to get my tripod on the plane as hand baggage without security thinking it's a lethal weapon!

 

[anwa]

I put my tripod in my checked baggage to avoid problems taking it on the plane. The trip to Sweden was complicated by my luggage still being in Heathrow when I arrived - it got there 24 hours later. I took my first Northern lights photos using a bean bag propped on top of a wheelie bin, but that's another story entriely....!

Best of luck and be sure to post some images when you get back.

 

[Goody13]

Cheers. Will do, if I see them. I have a nice shiny new 10-22 I will be using out there for the first time as well. Now I just have to hope the lights appear!

I'm a bit stuck with the tripod option as I am doing hand baggage only with Ryanair and Norwegian Air, both of whom would charge for hold baggage. In fact, If I can't take my tripod, it would be cheaper to just leave it at Stansted!

I will take my Gorillapod as a back-up option though.