Christmas Aurora
The northern lights gave a nice display here in Scotland on Christmas night. Glad I stayed sober.
The northern lights gave a nice display here in Scotland on Christmas night. Glad I stayed sober.
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Mar, 2015Views
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Awards
Staff Winter Selection 2015
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Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the northeast of Scotland just outside the very small village of Letham.Time
I shot this on Christmas day last year about 11pm after following aurora notifications throughout the day. Things were looking good for that night so I stayed sober so I could drive out of town later that night.Lighting
We're quite lucky where we live in regard to light pollution. You don't have to drive very far to experience a very dark sky and witness many, many stars. As for the lighting, Mother Nature took care of that on this one!Equipment
This was shot with a Nikon D7100 and Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens on a tripod for the long exposure of 20 seconds. ISO and shutter speed are the 2 settings that change depending on the strength of the lights and I always use F2.8 with focus set to infinity.Inspiration
I've had the aurora bug for some time now but after the death of my mother last October, Christmas wasn't what it should have been and I had to get out. Heading out on a dark winter night to go shooting has always helped clear my head and luck was on my side with mother natures greatest show.Editing
This image was processed in Lightroom and then Photoshop to get the best out of it I could. Basic adjustments to black and white levels, lifted the shadows to make the road more visible and added some noise reduction due to shooting at ISO 3200. Sharpened with a high pass filter in Photoshop and minor touch ups for hot pixels with the healing brush.In my camera bag
My bag contains my Nikon D7100 and Tokina 11-16 F2.8 as it's become my goto setup for a lot of things. I also carry a nikon 50mm 1.8 as it's just a beautiful and sharp lens and also versatile. Also the Nikon 105mm F2.8 macro lens has been in my bag a lot recently and I'm growing to love that lens too. Out of this world for macro but also a great portrait lens.Feedback
Join as many groups or follow as many websites that post updates as you can possibly keep up with. Once you find a good one with people in the know who have experience with capturing the northern lights, don't be afraid to ask questions. As for capturing the lights themselves, it's not an exact science if and when they will show so be prepared to be patient and spend many dark nights out in the cold, sometimes with nothing to show for it. Trust me though, once you see it, you'll be hooked forever.
