Northern Lights
Nov, 2015Views
2193
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Awards
Featured
Contest Finalist in Contemplating The Aurora Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Billboards And Other Signs Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
All Star
Magnificent Capture
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Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo about hour drive North of Reykjavik, I wanted to make sure my photo had man made objects to contrast the sky & landscape. Just off a main road I found a small dirt track & Sign to add foreground interest.Time
This photo was taken around 1am, I remember waiting hours for the Aurora to show through the heavy cloud, once the clouds eased off it was worth the wait! I remember I was in this location for around 5-6 hours trying to stay awake.Lighting
The white balance & ISO management was probably my issue with this photo, I was trying to let as much light in without the aurora over exposing against the dark sky & landscape, I ended up slightly under exposing to try & give the sense of how dark this location was.Equipment
This photo was created using 6 photos in panorama, I used my trusty Nikon D800 with the 24-70 2.8 at 24mm & 2.8 f stop. I also used my strong heavy tripod to keep the camera as still as possible (it was blowing a gale at the time!) I even remember shielding the camera with my body to reduce camera shake! to help reduce camera shake I also used a remote shutter release.Inspiration
I was aiming to head away from streets lights but possibly have a few street lights or a house in the distance to give the image depth & sense of scale, I also liked the dirt track leading towards the water & the natural leading lines in the landscape.Editing
The image made from 6 separate images stitched together as I only had my 24-70mm with me which wasn't wide enough for the effect I wanted. Once stitched I went to work attempting to bring out the land details as the photos were under exposed the land appeared as a silhouette, I bumped up the contrast on the sky to bring the stars out & de-noised the whole image.In my camera bag
I normally try & keep it to a minimum, I have my Nikon d800 with a battery grip for extra battery life, Nikon 24-70 2.8f & the Sigma 50-500 (which I didn't bring to Iceland), my amazing trusty well used lens cleaning cloth (Trust me, it got a lot of use out here) My manfrotto tripod & my full collection of LEE filters. But of course more importantly I make sure I have a few snacks & a torch with a red filter to help with you're night vision!Feedback
My main advice which is pretty obvious but the most useful is patience, you could be waiting hours for the right light of clouds to move or the aurora to erupt. As you might be out in the cold and dark for a while, make sure you are prepared for all kinds of weather like rain, snow & wind, so wrap up warm. Its also nice to have a few creature comforts as well like some snacks.
