This thread is for discussing technical aspects of imaging aurora and in general low light photography tips, advise, tricks, etc. Come here to ask questions and share. Since there already is a thread on photographing aurora with cell phones (https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/topic/3472-aurora-photography-hints-for-those-of-us-with-smartphones/), this thread is for folks with digital cameras or video cameras.

I myself come from landscape photography and only started photographing aurora this SC, which means I am learning on the go as well. With the help of this community, we will try to answer the questions you have or give you a link to the right resource.

@NightSky @Cations @Peogauuia @hamateur 1953

Edited March 25Mar 25 by JessicaF
added the link to the thread on photographing with cell phones

Maybe this thread should go to the "other" section? -- https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/forum/26-other/

The cellphone photography thread is there also -- https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/topic/3472-aurora-photography-hints-for-those-of-us-with-smartphones/

Probably ok to leave it here. I think Sander or Marcel may have moved my countdown thing here earlier.

Edited March 25Mar 25 by hamateur 1953
Typos

14 minutes ago, NightSky said:

Maybe this thread should go to the "other" section? -- https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/forum/26-other/

The cellphone photography thread is there also -- https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/topic/3472-aurora-photography-hints-for-those-of-us-with-smartphones/

Oh, you are probably right. I misunderstood app/site support ... Can the administrators move it there or shall I start it there while they cancel this one? Thanks for the link to the cell phones.

I have moved the topic. Do you have any tips and tricks you would like to share @JessicaF ?

if use phone, 15 to 30 seconds exposion is important. ISO can go around 100to 200, if have high light pollution, adjust the iso to about 50, and check the substorm

I started writing a intro document. I will keep on expanding and modifying this based on the feedback.

Camera (sensor): You want as large pixels as possible to have smaller ISO noise (smaller pixels are noisier). Cameras with full frame sensors (sensor diagonal is 36mm) will work better than with smaller (e. g., "cropped") sensors. Medium format sensors are even larger and better but these cameras tend also be more expensive. To mention a few specific camera bodies, Canon 6D and Nikon Z6 are great for low light photography due to their large pixels but most modern cameras from Canon, Nikon, SONY, and others will do extremely well.

Lens: You want a lens that gives you the most light (lowest f stop) and you also generally want a wide angle lens (unless you are far from the aurora and actually need a zoom, which could be the case when shooting from mid latitudes). Rokinon makes great lenses for astrophotography, 24mm f1.4 has a GREAT performance to price ratio (alas, it is a manual lens), Rokinon f2.8 14mm is wider but has stronger vignetting (also manual), Sigma f1.4 14mm, Canon EF f2.8 14mm, Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8, Nikon f1.8 20mm S lens. Do not forget to remove all filters (e. g., a polarizer) as they kill the light and you need as much light as possible.

Image format: For best quality images, you want to shoot RAW (no JPEGs) because this gives you a larger dynamic range (less underflow and saturated pixels), less noise, and generally better quality images. Then, you develop the RAW images yourself on a computer in Adobe Lightroom or other image editing software that can open RAW formats.

Tripod: Invest into a sturdy tripod (carbon fiber one are the best) and a quality ball head. Good tripod will make the difference in windy conditions.

Settings: This is a bigger topic because it depends on many factors and also personal preference. Shoot in full manual mode where you can set exposure, ISO, white balance yourself. If the aurora is structured and morphing fast, you want to perhaps select shorter exposure to avoid having the structure blurred by exposing too long. Shorter exposure will force you to use higher ISO, which will give you noisier images. I can imagine that in polar regions where the aurora can be very quick, you may want to use exposures as short as 1-3 seconds, while for distant storms or mostly diffuse aurora, you may go with longer exposures, such as 4-8 sec. Set your ISO so that you are filling up the histogram to about 1/2 of the dynamic range. White balance could be on auto (it can be easily adjusted in post pro) or set to 3500-4000K for consistency and if you do animations.

Development: The way we develop aurora images is again personal as some of us might prefer warmer tones (reds rather than purples) while others may lean towards cooler hues. If I was to use my own vision to judge the true aurora color, when I do see the reds, they seem deep red while the green is emerald. I wonder how others perceive these two basic colors :) Post processing has a huge effect on the final image. This should be a separate posting.

Shooting with Moonlight and light pollution: Generally, you need to lower your ISO settings the more ambient light you have (significantly so if the Moon is full). Take a few test shots to see what ISO works depending on the Moon phase and the light pollution. Basically, you want to see colors and not just overexposed whitish sky, so do not be afraid to underexpose.

This is really for mid latitude dwellers": When I am out chasing, I keep taking test shots from the tripod and look for signs of movement to spot an onset of a substorm. The greens typically start morphing / moving before the red columns sprout. By flipping between images taken at different time intervals, it becomes easier to spot the movement. Before the red columns sprout, there is usually diffuse pinks/magentas above the greens. Thus, I use the camera as "advanced vision" to better see what is going on. If the date is October 10, 2024, scratch all that and shoot in all directions, including south and right above your head LOL

I will shut up for now and go to bed.

I would recommend going for smartphone controlled cameras, it's freakishly handy. The kind of cameras Jessica recommends to you are an unreasonable expense for me, but they are very good! But I have an entry level camera and cheap Chinese lenses and that's good enough for me ))). I control my Canon 2000D via wifi with my smartphone, that's where I make settings. I also use the app to view images and can adjust shutter speed and light sensitivity based on them. Smartphone control is especially convenient in the cold season. You can sit in a warm car with your camera outside. And to have enough time for the whole night, I use a special adapter instead of the regular battery and a powerbank for 20 000 mAh. In winter time I put it in a homemade insulated box or under the hood of the car. The insulated box is made of 30mm thick foam and wrapped with opaque tape. I also have several 128g memory cards. To avoid suffering from optics fogging, I choose elevated locations or use a lens heater. In this case I use a second powerbank, as the heater requires increased charge consumption. For camera models that do not support smartphone control, you can look for wired or wireless remote controls.

Warning: never charge the powerbank in the insulation! it may cause overheating and fire!

Edited March 25Mar 25 by Samrau

Here’s my tips/process on shooting in mid latitudes:

• Smart phone is great for determining if the lights are visible.

• Focus. If you’re shooting with a DSLR, spend time getting the focus right, use live view (if you have it) to zoom right in on a bright star, a distant light, whatever and make sure your focus is set.

• Work your ISO/shutter/aperture light triangle to match the light conditions you have. If you have the advantage of a fast (f2.8 or faster) lens, avoid foregrounds with multiple focal planes.

• Use focal length to your advantage, e.g., in the mid latitudes a longer focal length lens can be used to make it seem like the aurora takes up more of the sky. Or, a wider lens is needed during a stronger storm to fit everything in.

• Shoot raw.

• Take care post processing raw images and don’t go overboard. Please do not hit the +100 saturation and call it good! I like to use white balance adjustments to get the colors right.

• Watch out for wind! wind can do more than just shake your tripod, it can introduce blur into your foreground by shaking trees or blowing clouds around, it can also degrade any “water reflection” shots.

• Finally, plan shots ahead of time if you have the luxury of doing so. Scout possible locations ahead of time and get a sense of what your composition might look like, what lights might be available to set focus, etc.

Edited March 25Mar 25 by NEAurora

45 minutes ago, NEAurora said:

Here’s my tips/process on shooting in mid latitudes:

• Smart phone is great for determining if the lights are visible.

• Focus. If you’re shooting with a DSLR, spend time getting the focus right, use live view (if you have it) to zoom right in on a bright star, a distant light, whatever and make sure your focus is set.

• Work your ISO/shutter/aperture light triangle to match the light conditions you have. If you have the advantage of a fast (f2.8 or faster) lens, avoid foregrounds with multiple focal planes.

• Use focal length to your advantage, e.g., in the mid latitudes a longer focal length lens can be used to make it seem like the aurora takes up more of the sky. Or, a wider lens is needed during a stronger storm to fit everything in.

• Shoot raw.

• Take care post processing raw images and don’t go overboard. Please do not hit the +100 saturation and call it good! I like to use white balance adjustments to get the colors right.

• Watch out for wind! wind can do more than just shake your tripod, it can introduce blur into your foreground by shaking trees or blowing clouds around, it can also degrade any “water reflection” shots.

• Finally, plan shots ahead of time if you have the luxury of doing so. Scout possible locations ahead of time and get a sense of what your composition might look like, what lights might be available to set focus, etc.

46 minutes ago, NEAurora said:

Take care post processing raw images and don’t go overboard. Please do not hit the +100 saturation and call it good! I like to use white balance adjustments to get the colors right.

Amen to that one - I dont increase saturation and use camera standard profile as I find adobe profiles ramp up colouration - edits are contrast curve & white balance, sometimes reducing saturation in reds as on very strong auroras the reds (10th October for example) can blow out more easily.

your phone's pro mode also works great for an impending Substorm with the iso and exposure features for the reds turn the iso down a bit maybe to 100-120 the greens come out around 140 iso all of the colors should show up with 200 iso with the purple pillars come out then two.

20 minutes ago, oaooaiia9i98 said:

your phone's pro mode also works great for an impending Substorm with the iso and exposure features for the reds turn the iso down a bit maybe to 100-120 the greens come out around 140 iso all of the colors should show up with 200 iso with the purple pillars come out then two.

That’s essentially what another user discovered. A predictive tool. Excellent.

All excellent points @NEAurora @Samrau . I would add to the list:

Never leave the tripod with your camera on the top unattended. Bad things can happen - wind can topple it over and you smash your lens (happened to me) or changes in temperature loosen one of the tripod leg segments, it slides in, the tripod topples, you smash your lens (happened to me, too).

If it is humid (fall mostly), keep in mind that your lens might be fogging up. When shooting the Oct 8 '24 show (8 not 10), I had to wipe off the lens after almost every other shot.

Level your tripod in case you want to do a pano (leveling head is irreplaceable for this to avoid crooked photos).

If you intend to do landscape photography with the aurora in the sky, as @NEAurora said, you want to stop the lens more for increased depth of field. This is potentially a much larger topic that goes deeper into landscape photography, illuminating the foreground, focus bracketing, etc., which can get quite technical, so I will not go into much more detail here.

Remember, when there is no other light source, clouds will be black in your shots (it always surprises people when I say that clouds are black LOL)

When you check your images in the back LCD, in darkness they appear MUCH brighter than they really are. You really need to watch the histogram (preferably separate Red, Green, and Blue) to really see how bright the images will be when you open them in Lightroom. Make sure you do not underexpose or overexpose as this leads to loss of detail. Keep in mind the aurora itself changes brightness and a setting that worked when it was building may overexpose when it fires up.

Good point with the focusing - you want to focus on a star rather than trust the infinity setting on your lens. They rarely give good focus on stars.

And my favorite most important rule for landscape (and aurora) photography is: "Get your butt out there!" :)

I will collect the tips and advice into one bigger document that we can keep in a safe, dry place here away from children. Thanks everyone for contributing.

@JessicaF , by the way, about focusing. With SLR cameras you can easily and quickly focus by looking through the viewfinder at the farthest lamppost, for example, the farther away the better, I mean located at a distance of about one kilometer or more. If the light of the lantern begins to flicker (because of the turbulent atmosphere), then the focus is set normally. If you haven't tried it, try it, it's a very fast way to focus, since it takes longer to focus on the stars. But by stars, of course, is better.

In mirrorless cameras, lamppost focusing is also possible if you enable movie mode. To do this, the light sensitivity must be acceptable and the display must allow you to see. You can raise the ISO to the maximum level and zoom in on the light source area in the display.

18 minutes ago, JessicaF said:

When you check your images in the back LCD, in darkness they appear MUCH brighter than they really are

Oh man, this has tripped me up so many times…

One of the biggest mistakes with Aurora photography is assuming the “sky” Is the most important part.

Change up your foreground and composition regularly! Don’t sit in the car and have your camera in the same spot all night… Some of my favourite photos are ones where I randomly changed composition thinking it wouldn’t be great.

I almost passed up this spot. It was one of the better shots of the night!

If you have a full frame camera, faster shutter speeds with higher iso will create better texture in the auroras. The pillars will be sharper and less washed out by movement.

From a compositional perspective as others have mentioned one of the things I've enjoyed getting in photos is a body of water to capture the reflections and colors from overhead.

1 hour ago, Sunboi said:

One of the biggest mistakes with Aurora photography is assuming the “sky” Is the most important part.

Change up your foreground and composition regularly! Don’t sit in the car and have your camera in the same spot all night… Some of my favourite photos are ones where I randomly changed composition thinking it wouldn’t be great. I almost passed up this spot. It was one of the better shots of the night!

If you have a full frame camera, faster shutter speeds with higher iso will create better texture in the auroras. The pillars will be sharper and less washed out by movement.

As a landscape photographer I agree with you 100%. A picture of a grandiose sunset is "just" a great sunset if there is no composition. Having said this as a disclaimer, I totally understand folks who "discovered" aurora only recently and want the best pictures of "just" the aurora. For them, aurora is like a UFO. And if you spot a UFO, the last thing on your mind is "composition." Nothing wrong when people focus just on this amazing natural phenomenon when they see the SAR or STEVE or random green splotches of proton aurora for the first time. Spotting these from mid latitude and densely populated areas is a challenge on its own as we fight clouds, light pollution, and obstruction. I missed the very beginning of the Oct 10 '24 show because I was searching for a composition in an area I have never been to before as I needed to escape clouds. That was a harsh price to pay.

22 minutes ago, JessicaF said:

As a landscape photographer I agree with you 100%. A picture of a grandiose sunset is "just" a great sunset if there is no composition. Having said this as a disclaimer, I totally understand folks who "discovered" aurora only recently and want the best pictures of "just" the aurora. For them, aurora is like a UFO. And if you spot a UFO, the last thing on your mind is "composition." Nothing wrong when people focus just on this amazing natural phenomenon when they see the SAR or STEVE or random green splotches of proton aurora for the first time. Spotting these from mid latitude and densely populated areas is a challenge on its own as we fight clouds, light pollution, and obstruction. I missed the very beginning of the Oct 10 '24 show because I was searching for a composition in an area I have never been to before as I needed to escape clouds. That was a harsh price to pay.

I feel your pain out west here. For myself I am just interested in the pictures and fully appreciate the few you have posted recently. The how and why of the event evolution tbh I still do not fully understand. And if I saw a UFO? Sure wouldn’t admit to it publicly! As a Ham for years I understand the ionosphere very well, but the huge complex magnetic interactions truly amaze me still!!

Edited March 25Mar 25 by hamateur 1953
Omission

15 hours ago, JessicaF said:

If the date is October 10, 2024, scratch all that and shoot in all directions, including south and right above your head

LOL on that

On May 10th I was expecting a nice Aurora in the northern sky-- and had ALL my cameras pointed north.

Then the sky lit up - E V E R Y W H E R E !

My cameras (on tripods) were shooting north, except for the one I had in my hands.... and you just cannot hold the camera steady enough for a long exposure in your hands, so all those shots are crap - the ones I shot straight up, the ones I shot towards south... all crap.

I missed SO MUCH of the good stuff because I didn't go and readjust my other cameras to the other directions.

Of course, had I had a third tripod it would have solved the problem - but I had just bought my 2nd one earlier that day specifically for that occasion and never thought I'd need a third....

So if there was one thing I could change about that day, it'd be that third tripod...

50 minutes ago, NightSky said:

LOL on that

On May 10th I was expecting a nice Aurora in the northern sky-- and had ALL my cameras pointed north.

Then the sky lit up - E V E R Y W H E R E !

My cameras (on tripods) were shooting north, except for the one I had in my hands.... and you just cannot hold the camera steady enough for a long exposure in your hands, so all those shots are crap - the ones I shot straight up, the ones I shot towards south... all crap.

I missed SO MUCH of the good stuff because I didn't go and readjust my other cameras to the other directions.

Of course, had I had a third tripod it would have solved the problem - but I had just bought my 2nd one earlier that day specifically for that occasion and never thought I'd need a third....

So if there was one thing I could change about that day, it'd be that third tripod...

Well hey, I forgot my DSLR... sooooo... at least you didn't have to deal with that big of a failure! Lol

51 minutes ago, NightSky said:

Then the sky lit up - E V E R Y W H E R E !

LMAO - We went to a boat launch with a north facing view during this storm and took a couple of test shots over the lake that showed NOTHING, only to turn around and see it was behind us to the south. All of our experience left us completely ill-prepared for this event.

Edited March 25Mar 25 by NEAurora

48 minutes ago, NightSky said:

LOL on that

On May 10th I was expecting a nice Aurora in the northern sky-- and had ALL my cameras pointed north.

Then the sky lit up - E V E R Y W H E R E !

My cameras (on tripods) were shooting north, except for the one I had in my hands.... and you just cannot hold the camera steady enough for a long exposure in your hands, so all those shots are crap - the ones I shot straight up, the ones I shot towards south... all crap.

I missed SO MUCH of the good stuff because I didn't go and readjust my other cameras to the other directions.

Of course, had I had a third tripod it would have solved the problem - but I had just bought my 2nd one earlier that day specifically for that occasion and never thought I'd need a third....

So if there was one thing I could change about that day, it'd be that third tripod...

On Oct 10, I remember driving around in rural Pennsylvania, looking for some landmarks. It was still light outside from the sunset, you could not even see the stars yet. Then a friend of mine is calling me that they are ALREADY seeing it! I panicked, looked north, nothing there, kept on driving some more and, as the road turned EAST, I saw a large bright strawberry milk PINK blob against blue sky. I had to push my eye balls back into their sockets and had to remind myself to breathe again. I pulled over in the middle of some field with a super strong and unpleasant fertilizer smell ... my first pictures of the pink mess coming out way overexposed. Had that part of the storm happened when it was dark, the aurora must have been strong enough to read a newspaper at night. I still get goosebumps when I recall that craziness when HP was 356 ... what a memory!

Just now, 3241silo said:

Well hey, I forgot my DSLR... sooooo... at least you didn't have to deal with that big of a failure! Lol

I probably would have jumped off a cliff....

I stayed at home so it was easy enough to walk back to the house to get stuff.

1 minute ago, NEAurora said:

LMAO - We went to a boat launch with a north facing view during this storm and took a couple of test shots over the lake that showed NOTHING, only to turn around and see it was behind us. All of our experience left us completely ill-prepared for this event.

Yeah, all the Auroras I had caught before that day were tiny things way down in the northern horizon, I could NOT believe what was happening, all around me.

I'm in Oklahoma, so SHOOTING SOUTH to catch SAR was totally unexpected, and not something I even considered possible.

3 hours ago, Sunboi said:

One of the biggest mistakes with Aurora photography is assuming the “sky” Is the most important part.

Change up your foreground and composition regularly!

Absolutely!

...except I've tried to go to the local lake twice for Auroras - the first time it never showed up, the 2nd time there was a wildfire on the other side of the lake and wind was blowing the heavy smoke directly to my selected spot. So, I had to go back to the house.

So now I think the lake is jinxed as far as Aurora shooting goes, and I'm unwilling to test my luck, and I'd rather stay at home with the shitty view if it means I'll actually see something.

Well, I normally do time lapses anyway, so staying in one spot is kind of important, while you can still do slightly different views by either turning the camera or using several pointed at different parts of the view, also less or more zoomed in.

21 minutes ago, JessicaF said:

It was still light outside from the sunset, you could not even see the stars yet. Then a friend of mine is calling me that they are ALREADY seeing it!

Similar happened to me on May 10th - I had all the cameras set up in their spots, but I was still adjusting the modes on my old GoPro, when I saw the colors through the LCD view on it, and it wasn't even dark yet! I panicked and tried to get it going, but it locked up on me and I had to unplug it from the external power, restart and do everything over to get it right. I had planned to have certain interval on it, but in my panic I missed that it was set on auto interval - but that may have been a good thing.

I just did not expect the colors to pop up so early.

25 minutes ago, NightSky said:

I probably would have jumped off a cliff....

I'm in Oklahoma, so SHOOTING SOUTH to catch SAR was totally unexpected, and not something I even considered possible. I just did not expect the colors to pop up so early.

Good luck looking for cliffs in Oklahoma :)

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away. On Oct 10, this counter increased a lot.

Edited March 25Mar 25 by JessicaF