Red aurora over birch trees, Fairbanks, Alaska. Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon 24mm f/1.4, 15 sec @ f/1.4, ISO 1600
How to Photograph the Northern Lights by Patrick J. Endres and Neal Brown.
Saturday night at 6:30, I was settling into a relaxing evening after a long day of work when my neighbor, Amy Johnson (a talented photographer), sent me a text that the aurora was out. I stepped out on my deck and could see a faint aurora presence, but it had the looks of very subtle color. To an untrained eye, it would not have looked impressive at all, since colors other than the typical green can be much harder to see with the human eye. I took a few shots and was surprised by the vibrant reds and magentas. So, after a few shots, I thought it was worth getting some shoes on and grabbing my camera gear. It is not very common in Fairbanks, that the aurora appears in that color, that early in the night, in the deep of winter with temperatures about 30 degrees above zero! Thankfully, I live in a place where it is dark enough to photograph the aurora in my back yard. Which is exactly what I did for an an hour or so. Eventually, the colors dissipated a bit, and clouds moved in. That was some of the brightest reds and magentas I’ve ever witnessed. For the curious, there is absolutely zero vibrance or saturation applied to this image in Lightroom. If you are keen on photographing the aurora and have not already checked out the new edition of my eBook, it will tool you up to take pictures like this: How to Photograph the Northern Lights.
