Photographing the Aurora

Getting decent pictures of the ephemeral auroras is easier than ever, thanks to the development and availability of advanced digital technology in today’s camera design. To give yourself the best chances of taking home accurate renditions of the spectacular light shows you will view on your Alaska aurora tours, bring a high quality, programmable digital camera (with adjustable ISO settings and available manual mode), preferably equipped with a wide angle lens. Because of the longer exposures necessary to capture the images of auroras, a high quality tripod is also essential. A remote shutter release device is also helpful but not necessary (you can also program the camera for a time lapse shutter release).

If you are bringing a new camera up for your aurora adventure, be sure to familiarize yourself with its operation beforehand! You do not want to be figuring out how your camera works in the dark, at below zero temperatures! (Trust us on that!) You should be familiar enough with your camera to set your programming and make necessary adjustments in the dark with minimum fumbling. (You should bring a pair of light-weight gloves to wear for working with your camera outside.)

You will want to crank up your camera’s light sensitivity to an ISO of at least 800 or more, depending on conditions and the quality of your camera’s sensors. (Some folks with top-end digitals shoot with their ISO cranked to 2000 or more for dramatic rendering of the sky and the constellations.) Shoot in Manual mode, with a modest f-stop of anywhere from 4 to 5.6, depending on your lens. (Do not shoot wide open!) Set your camera to shoot high-resolution jpgs, or even better, Raw files. Use a remote shutter release device or set your camera’s self timer for a delay of 5 seconds, to prevent any camera shake from blurring the image.

There are basically two strategies for photographing the aurora. When the light show just begins to come on in early evening and is faint or diffuse, use a long exposure (15 seconds or more, depending on ISO setting) to burn the image and get a great shot. Later, as the aurora becomes active and much brighter, you’ll want to cut back on your exposure to a minimum to capture the detail and not burn out the color highlights (the often subtle reds, yellows and violets). At its most intense, during a high index night display, the dancing aurora will best be captured with exposures of less than a second, depending on ISO. The beauty of the latest digital technology allows you to view your shooting results within a short time so you can make adjustments as you go along to fine tune your settings to best capture the details and color of the phantasmagorical light show in the skies. If you know your way around Photoshop and are shooting Raw files, you can even further enhance your results when you get back home to bring out the color highlights and contrast.