How to Photograph the Northern Lights - Nail the Camera Settings

[@zygmuntziokowski7877]

Thanks!

[@FreeRoamingPhoto]

You bet!

[@JohnCross-rz5uq]

Before you go out in the night time, be sure to test the "infinity" setting in daylight, because it is almost impossiple to focus at night time. I will recommend to get a very fast memory card, because long exposure images takes longer to write to the card. I use two cameras on two tripods, one camera with fx 14mm 1.8 and another with x 24mm 1.4, remember extra battery, set all the settings on the camera before you go out, It can be great to use a phone with an app to remote control the camera.

[@FreeRoamingPhoto]

Great advice! All really good points.

[@colintraveller]

I have to disagree . I stay in Central Scotland and i rarely see the Northern Lights . The recent storm is the first time that many got a chance in 50 yrs .. at a lower latitude . And even at my location i never seen any of the lights . Even before that a mass of Tog's headed to Ayr Harbour to photograph the lights and they saw SFA .. And Ayr is 36 miles South of my location .

[@FreeRoamingPhoto]

That's interesting you don't see them much up there. Here in Wyoming, at a much lower latitude, I've seen them as much as once per month during solar maximums. Obviously much less during solar minimums. Do you check any kinds of forecasts? I have good luck checking them each night.

[@JohnCross-rz5uq]

@@FreeRoamingPhoto It is the same in the Southern Scandinavia ! You have to go far North in Norway and Sweden. 2023 and 2024 are years with more Aurora to be seen in Southern Scandinavian, just about barely to be seen with the eyes most of the time, only very few days in 2023 and 2024 it was powerfull enough to be seen with human eyes.

[@FreeRoamingPhoto]

@@JohnCross-rz5uq Hopefully you get some clear skies when they're out! That, of course, will also make a big difference. Definitely keep checking and hope things work out in your favor!

[@JohnCross-rz5uq]

@@FreeRoamingPhoto Well, I saw the REALLY big Aurora bursts in late 1980´s and early 1990´s which were much stronger than theses years, but I did not photograph it back then.

[@FreeRoamingPhoto]

@@JohnCross-rz5uq Glad you got to see those! I don't think many people were photographing them at all back then.