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Trichardsen β Aurora Photography Tutorial
Published: 2013-01-21 06:43:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 8073; Favourites: 192; Downloads: 108
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Description
I do not claim to be an expert photographer, with only a little over a year under my wings I have more now than ever to learn about photography.But with over 40000 pictures taken and almost half being of the aurora I do think it gives me a little edge when it comes to taking images of the phenomena, something I am more than happy to share.
Hope you like this.
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Comments: 80
Hi. I just found somewhere on the internet something about UV-filter creating "halos" in the center of the picture due to certains waves of light in the auroras; I wandered if you ever experienced something similar?
According to the writer(s) the quality of the UV-filter, and the type (color) of aurora impacted it.
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I never use UV filters, anything you put infront of the lens will always degrade the image quality, and the price of a UV filter that has minimal impact on image quality is just not worth it.
I have the shade on infront and try to be careful, have not had any accident yet.
But I have heard of such effects.
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Okay, thanks for the answer, I'll keep it in mind
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Extremely interesting to read, even though I don't have a good camera.
You said that strong Kp's can result in Auroras as far down as Italy, but I don't suppose those happen very often, do they? I would love to witness them myself one day, but as of now I don't have the means to travel that far.
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Oh no, that far south is extremely rare, it needs to be an exeptionaly strong aurora.
Perhaps later down the road you get the chance to go see the aurora, and I really suggest you take it if it presents itself.
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Yes, I looked up the apps you suggested and ended up installing Aurora Buddy. It's got a warning when the Kp reaches a set limit, and it is said in the description that a KP 7 can be seen in Britain (same latitude as the Netherlands) so who knows what might happen!
But if I ever get the change, I will definitely go check them out! Maybe even visit Norway to see them. 
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Yeah Kp7 is extremely powerful, and quite rare really.
If you do visit Norway, I really really suggest northern Norway, really a wonderful place to see the aurora and such landscape too, many epic scenes have been captured up here.
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Glad you like it, and you are certainly welcome.
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I love you for doing this tutorial! I just got my Nikon D3100 and I'm stoked to use it! Just waiting for some clear nights to catch some auroral activity now.
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Very glad you like it, and glad to be of help.
Nikon d3100 is just fine to capture the aurora, if you have a lens and camera combo that allows you to get to 8 seconds or less shutter speed then you will be able to capture the movement in it.
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Glad you like it, my pleasure.
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I was wonder how you get such a clear Image at such a high iso without getting image noise?
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I am using a Nikon D800 which is very good at high ISO and very good lens ( 14-24mm f/2.8 ) those combined gives some very nice images even at high iso.
But you do not absolutely need the best, I could clear up images just fine on my D90 shot at 1600 iso, where I use Lightroom for the bulk of noise reduction and if needed some more in Photoshop.
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oh, I've never used nikons before. I'm used to canons.
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Canon has superb cameras as well, its all about preferences, Im not a brand guy, I would have bought the Mark3 if it has had the same pixel performance, and you can shoot just the same images with canon.
Its gear to a certain degree but most of it is the photographer.
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Thanks for taking the time to put this out there! Now I just need to get into more northern Canada to find some Aurora!
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My pleasure, I am glad you like it.
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Great post!
But that big x45 flare, wasn't the sensor measuring it cut off at x17, and it was later estimated to be about x45?
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Thank you.
Yes the initial measurement was clocked in at x12 I beleive it was, but later to x45.
I just tried to keep the tutorial more point based and easier, as it is really only the key elements you need to know prior to taking pictures of the aurora.
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Brilliant tutorial, learned a lot of things i never knew or would never have found out!
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Thank you very much.
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Glad you like it, thank you.
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Thx for the tutorial.
I discovered the joy of hunting the aurora while a trip to Iceland in december & the emotion it gives...
Didnt make so good shots, though. (Not as good as I hoped)
Interesting thing : I "discovered" a way to find auroras when you don't see them clearly and when you don't really know where to look for it.
While being in Iceland, I used to take random long exposure shots of the sky, and sometimes, a light green color appeared on the corner of a shot. Then I drove to that direction, took a couple other shots, it became stronger.
After a while, I came to a spot where I can see the aurora perfectly, without the camera.
The camera is a useful tool with a more accurate vision than our human eye, so it made the hunt way simpler.
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My pleasure.
Yeah I use that trick too, sometimes just go outside just do a couple of shots to see if there is any aurora lurking behind the clouds other times to know where it is coming from when I know it is going towards a clear sky, so I can set up my camera ahead of time.
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Nice tutorial
One year photography experience? YouΒ΄re very good in learning, thatΒ΄s for sure
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Thank you.
But you also got to throw in some drawing experience, much I have learned from drawing I used when shooting pictures.
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Great tutorial, very informative,thank you for sharing.
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My pleasure, and thank you.
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I'm not a photographer, don't own a camera and have never seen an aurora borealis, except in National Geographic and in photos here on 
I just had to favor your tutorial nonetheless.
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I'm in Shetland, we get it occasionally, though usually just too much cloud. Thanks so much for this thoughtful and detailed tutorial, it's very generous of you!
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Thank you, glad you like this.
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This tutorial is something I've searched, an aswer to my prayers! I live in Lappland of Finland and I often see gorgeous aurora borealis when walking home at night (or sometimes even at morning) but I haven't managed to get proper pictures. Yet that is, thanks to this tutorial, I think I'm going to make it the next time : ) Thank you, I found this really useful.
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My pleasure, hope you will get a lot of good pictures of the aurora dancing across the sky.
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Wow nice tutorial, this is really helpful! I don't think I will ever have the chance to try it out, but you'll never know
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Many thanks.
Thats the thing, you never know what the future might bring.
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Fin tutorial! Har selv prΓΈvd Γ₯ tatt bilde av nordlyset men er ingen enkel sak.
Ser pΓ₯ mange av bildene dine har du aperaturen pΓ₯ f/2.8, hvorfor sΓ₯ lavt(eller hΓΈyt)? hadde det ikke vΓ¦rt bedre med rundt f/11? Jeg spΓΈr fordi jeg lurer, er ikke ment som noe kritikk. Er ikke sΓ¦rlig utreda pΓ₯ landskapsfotografi sΓ₯ er interessant Γ₯ lese tutorials pΓ₯ det.
Har akkurat kjøpt inn et stabilt stativ, og kameraet skal være godt nok(ikke noe D800 men).
Vurderer litt Γ₯ kjΓΈpe inn et nytt objektiv sΓ₯ det var fint Γ₯ fΓ₯ tips om det og i tutorialen
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