Photographing the Northern Lights

[osprey48]

I'm off to Iceland in December for a weekend, hopefully to see the northern lights, and to photograph them if they appear. I've read that they are very difficult to capture successfully, but I've seen many good pictures of them, so it must be possible. Has anyone taken any good photos of them, and what must I do to get a good shot? I often take night photos, so I'm familiar with the basics, but how can you get the aurora on a long exposure without ending up with just a blur?
Thank you.

 

[bobwysiwyg]

Might want go glance through this, sounds interesting. Even contains a source for checking when they might likely appear. Post pics if you get some.

http://www.venhaus1.com/photographaurora.html

 

[Lee L]

Covington, Astrophotography for the Amateur, 2nd ed., recommends 200-400 ISO color film, slide or negative, with exposures varying from 2 to 60 seconds with the lens wide open, but no wider than f:1.7.

Some auroral displays change and "move" relatively quickly, so if you want to see more structure in the rays and curtains when that's happening, stay with the shorter end of the exposure range.

Shoot a lot. Bracket with time a lot. Have a second body to reload while shooting with another if you can. Take plenty of film. You don't want to be reloading in the dark during the minute or two of the best display, or run out of film when it's just getting really good.

Don't expect to get on film exactly the colors that you recall seeing. The dimness of the display and the match up between the limited spectral lines emitted by the atmospheric gases and your film's spectral response may yield some surprises.

Lee

P.S. Was reading and typing while bobwysiwyg was posting... nice reference page.

 

[osprey48]

Thank you for the info. It seems that my Mamiya won't be any good, as it only has a f4 lens, so I'll have to load up my 35mm SLR with some colour film for the first time in years.

 

[Lee L]

Your Mamiya will work fine. Just bias toward longer exposure times, perhaps starting in the 4-8 second range rather than at 1-2 seconds. I have a friend with great aurora shots on 120.

Lee

 

[jon koss]

I am not exactly sure of my scientific underpinnings here, but... maybe it is a "threshold effect" or reciprocity failure, but 400 speed film seemed to work far better for me with an f/3.5 medium format lens. If you will not have time to test beforehand, then I would stick with the 400 speed.

Best, Jon

Covington, Astrophotography for the Amateur, 2nd ed., recommends 200-400 ISO color film, slide or negative, with exposures varying from 2 to 60 seconds with the lens wide open, but no wider than f:1.7...
Lee