NORTHERN ENLIGHTENMENT
We head to Finland to find out what makes a great aurora photo.
It was time to head north. After hearing tales of frequent, powerful displays in Finnish Lapland, I knew this was the year to see the aurora borealis – and my DSLR camera was coming with me.
In theory, it’s never been easier to photograph this natural light show. We’re now in the early declining phase of a solar maximum, when the green glow or – if you’re lucky – rippling curtains topped with red are historically at their most frequent and spectacular.
Barely an hour after arriving at our hotel on the shore of frozen-over Jerisjärvi Lake in northwest Finland, 20km from the nearest village, we were standing in a forest clearing while the aurora borealis twisted, shimmered and pulsed above us. There were six of us, all hoping to photograph one of nature’s most elusive sights, and we were not disappointed; there were just as many chuckles of relief as there were clicks of camera shutters.
Our first workshop in aurora photography wasn’t due to take place until the next morning, so our trip to the forest clearing started with an impromptu lesson in the basics from our guide: put your DSLR camera on a tripod in manual mode, whack up the ISO to between 800 and 1600, set the aperture to f/3.5 or as near as possible and open the shutter for about eight to 20 seconds… then experiment. The unpredictable brightness and intensity of auroral displays is the deciding factor in what settings will work best.
Perparing for the lights
Having previously spent time at dark-sky sites trying to image constellations, star trails and night-time landscapes, I was reasonably well prepared for fiddling with a tripod and camera in the dark. However, the hands-on help of an expert proved invaluable for this first attempt.
That first night was astounding. A faint green glow to the north gradually spread south until it appeared high above us, twisting and pulsing, and picking up power. Unfortunately the first phase of this superlative display passed without me having taken a decent image because my lens kept slipping out of focus. Thankfully the lens was swiftly put back into the
correct position and fixed there by our tutor, Gareth Hutton; not only was having a professional in tow useful for the advice, the masking tape in his pockets was a godsend.
I was better prepared for the second burst of auroral activity and managed to snap some nice landscape shots; even a few arty shots of a birch tree seemingly ablaze with green swirls appearing to stream down its branches. After seeing red-tinged auroral curtains and rapidly moving green swirls, a thin wavy line suddenly shot above us, which I also managed to capture. It was one of the most exciting hours of my life, right up there with a total solar eclipse.
During a lull in activity, we drove up to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park to instantly see a faint, much slower moving aurora hanging over a high snowy fell. The
next evening we drove to Pallasjärvi Lake – primarily because it was in a cloud-free corridor – and eagerly awaited the aurora.
The tricks of composition
We had clear horizons to the north and east, and the glare from the gibbous Moon caused a string of rowing boats on the icy shoreline to cast long shadows. It was the perfect setting for the next and most important lesson: composition. Hutton headed straight for the boats to line up a shot, and the rest of us followed. That morning’s aurora photography workshop had taught us all a truth about aurorae that is not often voiced but is essential if you’re hoping to get great images: in most photographs they just look like clouds. Green they may be, but it’s imperative to use them only as a backdrop to a photo, and not the sole subject.
Often a tree is sufficient, or perhaps a building or a fellow photographer, but the usual rules of photography still apply: get your subject away from the centre, apply the rule of thirds and try to include diagonal objects. It’s not easy to do, but with this well-chosen site we had plenty of practice. In the event, the hour I had spent lining up the perfect shot of a boat beside the lake while waiting for the aurora produced dividends, and I eventually got the kind of aurora landscape photographs I had always dreamed of capturing.
Although the display that night wasn’t as strong as the night before, for 25 minutes they streaked towards the eastern horizon across a lake and into my camera’s field of view. Most of my photos featured boats, the icy lake and dramatic auroral bands, with the added bonus of a bright Jupiter rising. Lapland couldn’t have been any more photogenic, nor the cosmos kinder.