Friday Photo #104 – Storsandnes Northern Lights

Photo: Northern Lights over Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 16, 2014.  22.10

Wow – it’s 2015!  And even more wow, this photo marks the 2 year anniversary since I started this Friday Photo series, mostly as a way to keep adding something fresh to the website when I otherwise had nothing else to add.  Hopefully I have enough words for anther two years…

Here’s another aurora image from the same night as Friday Photo #100.  I like Storsandnes as an area for auroras as the horizon is fairly open, giving you a decent overview of what the northern lights might be doing, allowing me to make the decision to stay or head someplace else with a better composition.

On this night, I had been contentedly sitting around the campfire we had made, so I decided to stay and just enjoy the night.  I set my little Fuji XT-1 up on some rocks to take a time-lapse sequence, then set about grabbing a few images myself.

When the auroras began, there was still enough glow on the horizon to add a bit of light to the overall scene.  One of the difficulties of shooting in autumn, and when the moon is not out, is the darkness of the land.  Without winter’s snow covering the mountains, the nighttime autumn landscape easily becomes nothing more than black silhouettes agains the sky, something which I’m not all that fond of, to tell the truth.

Yet, with day’s light still fading, the added color and brightness helps separate the horizon, adding a bit of depth to the scene which is otherwise lost as the sky grows darker…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1000
f 3.5
25 seconds
WB Daylight