Iceland Aurora Photographic

Photographing Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis

Northern lights are great to watch. It involves the burning of atmospheric gases high above the earth as a result of solar winds from the sun. You stand on this planet and realise how small and insignificant we really are, how short our lives are and how beautiful this planet is. In essence it is Night Photography. Photographing them takes a bit of knowledge, but once you have it, it becomes as easy as taking any regular photograph.

Aurora over Jökulsárlón

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Equipment

This article discusses the use of digital SLRs (DSRLs), but a film camera is equally good and in some respects better. Whatever your camera, you need the ability to open the shutter for at least 30 seconds. If you have a bulb setting (B) and you have a shutter release cable, then you will have much more control. I have seen people use a two second exposure on a compact camera and they got a result, but not the kind of result we are going to try and achieve. Next you will need a tripod or a way of keeping the camera perfectly still for long periods. I once forgot my tripod head and successfully shot with my camera resting on my camera bag. Choose a tripod carefully, not too heavy, but not too light. You don't want to struggle carrying it over icy landscapes and you don't want the wind to be able to jog the camera. Try and choose one where it is easy to set up with your gloves on. A spare battery is very important. The cold zaps your battery and on average you battery life will be cut in half. Plenty of memory or film, it is not nice to run out. A good lens is important. If you can choose your lens, go for a fairly wide angle (24mm) and one with a large aperture f/2.8 is good.

Northern lights near Vatnjökull

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Weather

The second consideration is the weather. If you are far north enough to see them, then you will probably have very changeable weather. The ideal conditions are very very clear skies. The moon plays an important role. It is a matter of taste, but I prefer not to have the moon in the shot. But having the moon behind you can really help to expose the landscape. This is enhanced further if the landscape is covered in snow. The wind can be a challenge... the less wind, the better. The most important weather consideration is space weather and you can check this on this site. If this site says it is good, then it will be good. The thing to look for (if you can't see anything yet) is a feint green streak across the sky, this is a good sign that it is worth waiting around for an hour or so.

Northern lights near Mýrdalsjökull

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Exposure

OK, you have perfect weather and you have all the equipment. What do you do next? If you have a digital camera you can take many exposures and judge from your viewer. Use these exposure times as a rough guide:

Composition

Of course, the sky is going to be a major part of your image, but carefully composing some of the land will help give you image a sense of perspective. Favourites of mine are perfectly still water... this can be rare in Iceland, but a reflection shot is a real prize winner. If it is very dark, then look for some interesting shapes on the horizon. You might have to wait a while for the lights to appear, but if you spend this time taking some long night landscapes, you will have a better idea of composition when they arrive.

An HDR image from Hafravatn lake

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HDR

Go for it if you have the patience. The image above was from two exposures: 30 seconds to capture the sky and 6 minutes to capture the foreground.

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