Friday Photo 192 - Northern Lights

Friday Photo #192 – September Aurora

Friday Photo 192 - Northern Lights

Photo: Autumn northern lights, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 2, 2016. 23:22

Last Friday was the beginning of the northern lights season for me here on Lofoten. There had been a few displays during the last days of August, but I was always too busy to go out shooting. But as Friday rolled around, with a forecast for calm and clear weather – something a bit rare these last weeks, I knew it would by my chance for the first aurora of the season.

I first started the night at Skagensanden beach, near Ramberg. But as the first aurora began to appear in the sky, I immediately knew I was in the wrong position, with the lights forming behind the beach, in a location that wasn’t very photogenic.

I immediately headed to Ytresand beach, which basically points towards Skagsenden, and the location of the aurora. I missed the first large outburst as I was driving, but I caught some nice lights and shot a time-lapse for about 30 minutes before deciding to move to another location during a dim period.

I had seen the water was calm near the Fredvang bridges as I was initially driving out, and so I headed there to see if I could find anything interesting. Shortly after I arrived and setup my camera, the sky exploded with light! So bright that I over exposed my first shot, not having changed setting from my previous exposures. While I wasn’t completely happy with the foreground, and the small bit of power lines off the the left of the frame (most people would just edit this out probably), the aurora was good enough that I stayed until they calmed down again.

Truthfully, I don’t know anything about KP levels or any of the technical stuff. It seems to be a fascination among some photographers to label their shots KP 6, or whatever. I don’t know or care too much. I just compare what is immediately in front of my eyes to what I’ve stored in my memory. Friday night was a good one. I’m glad I was there to photograph it.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 800
f 4
8 seconds
WB Daylight

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