ESSENTIAL SKILLS FRAMING CHOICES

Composition is one of the few parts about photographing the aurora that is in your hands…

AS WE’VE seen, you can head to a high latitude, and check the solar and cloud forecasts, but essentially, an aurora sighting is still largely down to chance. One thing you can control, however, is composition. On our trip we earmarked likely locations that had a clear view northwards, like beaches and lakes, then we drove around these spots after dark (on a shooting trip like this, a car becomes your home from home). The display is beautiful, but, like a glorious sunset, it needs context. Framing mountains, trees or buildings in the foreground provides this. We were also lucky that the moonlight lit up the land for our trip.