Saturday, May 26, 2018

The Northern Lights

As per the norm, the workload after returning from spring break totally negated the vacation.  It's taken a long time to get through the photos of Iceland.  I was a little concerned with my Northern Lights photos because they are taken at night and the settings on the camera are so very different than what I'm used to shooting with.  They seemed to be decent on the LCD screen on the camera, but until I got them in larger size on the laptop I did worry that I didn't capture them well enough.  Thankfully, my amateur skills didn't impede things too much, and I got some nice shots.
I had done some studying about photographing the aurora before I left for my trip and went armed with notes on initial settings and a tripod.  On a side note, I HATE traveling with a tripod and the time it takes, so I often just don't bother.  I am SO glad I brought it for this trip because even those with good cameras didn't get the shots I got because they didn't bring a tripod.  It's hard to stand still for 15-30 seconds while the shutter is open.
What I wasn't prepared for was how different the view was between the naked eye and through the camera lens.  While what we saw with our eyes was pretty cool - oily white/grey lights swirling through the sky, the camera is able to take in the color of the lights that our eyes are not able to see.  Explained here...
Thus, the human eye primarily views the Northern Lights in faint colors and shades of gray and white. DSLR camera sensors don't have that limitation. Couple that fact with the long exposure times and high ISO settings of modern cameras and it becomes clear that the camera sensor has a much higher dynamic range of vision in the dark than people do.
Anyhow, the colors the camera picked up were incredible.
In order to see the Northern Lights there are a few factors that need to be in place.  First, the sky needs to be clear of cloud cover.  Second, they need to viewed in an area with little to no light.  And lastly, which is the tricky part in Iceland, there needs to have been bright sun the day (or two) of the night you see them.  On the day we arrived in Iceland, the sky was partly cloudy with the sun moving in and out of the clouds all day.  We were supposed to go out that night to see the lights, but it was too cloudy to go.  The next day was overcast, so we didn't go that night either.  It snowed all the next day, so no chance of seeing.  The following day was overcast.  At this point we were half way through our trip, and I had to keep talking myself off the ledge, "It will still be a great trip even if I don't see them."  We woke the next day to gorgeous sunny (but so windy and cold) skies, and that night we went out because it was as clear as could be.  The location where we waited was just beautiful and we got there just before complete darkness so I had a chance to set up, get focused before I couldn't see anything, and I had a gorgeous back drop of some mountains topped with snow.  We waited until 12:30/1:00 am wishing them to arrive, but they never did.  While disappointing, I have never seen a clearer more star-filled sky.  On our second to last day, it was again beautifully clear so we went out that night.  We didn't arrive until dark and the location was a Farmer's hotel off to the side of the road so the location wasn't ideal.  I had a much harder time setting up and trying to get the camera in focus.  Murphy's law, right?  Because that was the night they arrived.
About 11:00 the white swirling started.  It was very faint at first and, as I mentioned above, looked like a lot of stars.
After a few minutes of swirling, they then began to cover the sky.  It was still very faint, but to watch it "build" was very cool.  Then the swirling stopped and they seemed to dissipate in front of our eyes.  We waited a bit, watching a clear sky for quite some time.  Then they reappeared.  Once again, it started off as light swirls and streaks, but built in intensity.
 Then they started to spread, and soon the entire sky was covered.  It was fascinating.
I hope that it is not, but this felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Every time I look at these photos, they make me giddy.  It was our second to last night, already in April (they are most prevalent in October-March), I just can't believe how lucky we were.

10 comments:

  1. I've been waiting for this post and I am not disappointed!! Your photos are so impressive!

    That's really interesting how our eyes can't capture what the camera can. So glad you took your tripod and were able to capture it for all of us!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, a very interesting phenomenon in deed. I'm so relieved I brought the tripod. Even up to the point of walking out the door for the airport, I REALLY wanted to leave it...just one more thing to carry.

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  2. Excellent. Great photos and all the better for the progression. Good too that the stars are not shot too long that they streak.

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    1. Thank you! Phew! I'm so glad they turned out well. I practiced a bit with the set up/settings in the dark in my back yard the day or two before leaving, but what I was photographing was so much different (and so much more light) than I would find in Iceland. That made me nervous.
      I was so surprised at the stars. I've been out in the middle of nowhere before and seen stars, but this was like nothing I've ever seen. Maybe because we were so far north? I don't know, but it was fascinating. I'm glad they showed up too.

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    2. This year the jet stream is to the south. Usually it flows near on Maine Iceland Ireland meaning gigantic amounts of pollution is dumped. But it's mostly lack of light pollution from stray towns. If you go out to the Joshua Tree and have a hill between you and LA you should get as good if not better.
      I've had terrible trouble with Firefox blocking everything and only just now figured it out.

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    3. Yah, I've been out to the desert, but they didn't seem as vibrant as they did there. Maybe it was just vacation high. :)
      Blogger has stopped sending me emails when I get comments. It used to just do that for a few people, this post it didn't for any comments. Stupid tech!

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  3. I didn't know the science-y stuff about the Northern Lights! I know that here where I live in Maine, we see them frequently.

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    1. I have heard a lot of people say they have seen them in the northern US. That must be incredible, or maybe just old hat for you all anymore. I thought about that there in Iceland. Do they just not even care or notice anymore because they are so used to it. The tourists were in awe.

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  4. I've probably seen them a handful of times in the central U.S. as well, mostly closer towards spring time. But down this far south, they hug the horizon pretty closely and I can only imagine seeing an entire sky filled with the light show. Thanks for the pictures!

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    1. Yes, it was something. I wish I had a wider lens. I'm happy with what I got, but it would have been fun to get more in the shot.

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