Photographing the Northern Lights: A Ton of Info in 60 Minutes or Less! | B&H Event Space

This is your beginner guide on how to photograph the Northern Lights, one of the most beautiful phenomena in the night sky. Canon Technical Advisor, Eric Stoner shares his Aurora Borealis photography tips, such as planning your photoshoot, gear to bring, camera settings to use and more.
More from Eric Stoner
- / ericstonerphoto
Similar photography tutorials and seminars
- How to Get Started in Astrophotography: bhpho.to/3lwgx09
- How to Start Deep Sky Astrophotography: bhpho.to/3GeSrxN
- Chasing the Aurora Borealis: How to Predict, Capture & Edit the Northern Lights: bhpho.to/3BdlXSC
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Aurora Photography Equipment
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera: bhpho.to/2uTuAEW
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Lens: bhpho.to/2WnSl1y
- Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM Lens: bhpho.to/3jqIBiJ
- Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Lens: bhpho.to/2TVF7Mq
- Canon GPS Receiver GP-E2: bhpho.to/3CiSZlk
- Tripods: bhpho.to/3lqDcYP
- Canon TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller: bhpho.to/37kqghx
0:00 Introduction
0:38 About Eric
1:55 Northern Lights in Alaska
6:19 Overview
7:35 What is an Aurora?
9:53 Planning
11:05 Cold Weather Gear
15:24 Aurora Forecasting
18:45 Camera Gear
24:06 Gear Prep
30:09 Focusing
35:48 Exposure Recommendations
38:57 RGB Histogram
40:30 Tips in Actions
42:57 Localized Light Pollution
45:02 City Light Pollutions
46:06 Photography Composition
48:34 Color Temperature (Kelvin)
51:06 Portraits Under the Aurora
53:33 Printing Pictures
54:56 More Interesting Photos
55:46 Q&A
59:05 Final Thoughts
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[@H3XIUS]

As an Alaskan photographer in the Fairbanks area, there's plenty of good information here. A couple notes though: -The Aurora season in Fairbanks is late August to mid April, ideally late September to late March. Personally, I prefer the last week of September, but I do live here. -Temperatures can range from the 40's in September to -60f or colder Dec-Feb. -NOAA Spaceweather is 100% the best and most up to date info for aurora forecasting. It's what we recommend locally to everyone. -Some lenses (like the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G) have an insanely short hyperfocal distance so you can absolutely get everything from a few feet away to the aurora sharp in one image. It just depends on the combination of what you're using. Q&A section: -Green is the most common, but white, pinks, reds, purples and blues are known to happen. Red, purple, and blue are the rarer ones. Plus an aurora adjacent thing called STEVE (seriously, the way it was named is hilarious) that usually looks like a white/pink streak off on it's own for a few seconds. As for the colors, my understanding is it's due to the depth the solar wind is hitting into the magnetosphere and how it flexes. University of Alaska Geophysical has a great amount of info on it.

[@FeedScrn]

Interesting point about using the Adobe colorspace over the RGB one. Thanks for the tip.

[@ronaldzincone841]

A well done webinar on aurora photography!

[@isotechimages.9130]

Thank you great info.

[@frankstark3036]

Do you shoot in manual or Av mode. If manual how do you know how long of a shutter speed

[@BandH]

At the 35:48 mark, it is mentioned that the suggested shutter speed is between 2 seconds to 10 seconds. In this case, it is best to shoot in manual mode to have the most control.