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NORTHERN LIGHTS

   Based on my admittedly very limited experience, I would have to say, in regard to Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis… well, La Dee-Dah.

There is a ship wide announcement whenever Northern Lights are observed.  We were told that things change fast.  Intensities can ramp-up or drop-off over just a couple minutes, so don’t give up right away.

   Research back home in St. Pete indicated manual focus (set at infinity), wide open aperture and exposures of 20-30 seconds (didn’t give an ISO speed) – tripod required of course.  This seemed reasonable – until you factor in the tripod is on the deck of a moving, ocean going vessel.  I met a local photographer who showed me a magnificent picture (he said) he took at 0.2 seconds with a fast f/1.4 lens.  He said he never exposes for more than 6 seconds.

   So, the first night… well the actual first night I didn’t see anything.  Maybe those were clouds, but… actually nothing.  The bow, where a dim show was supposed to be, was packed with unworthy gawkers, unlike the photographically seriousness of myself.

   The next night then (tripod, manual focus set at ∞) I set the ISO (light sensitivity) to a very high 6400.  I set noise reduction to maximum (requires about 10 seconds to process each image).  I opened the aperture to the maximum for my zoom lens, f/3.5, which is not bad for a zoom lens, but it is definitely not f/1.4.  I set the shutter to 30 seconds. Shooty-shoot-shoot.  Noth’n.  Back in the darkroom (Corel Photopaint on my laptop), I boosted color, brightness and contrast to maximum, and got someth’n.

    Notice the big dipper

The next night the display was much more apparent, but not what you see in pictures.  There was no structure visible (although some did pop out after post production fiddling).  As one watched the sky, one could detect that the glow had changed, I would be hard pressed to call it movement.

To become a documenter of the Northern Lights Experience, I think you have to live around the Arctic circle (ugh) and work at it some (or, at least, carry your camera at all times).