A Beginners Guide To Photographing The Northern Lights

UPDATED MAR 2020. I consider myself pretty good at night photos but… photographing the Northern Lights was a little a lot harder than I anticipated. Being out in the woods meant that the scene was darker than anything I had tried to photograph before. The dancing lights added a new dynamic to the whole process. It was a new challenge and one I appreciated because without challenges how are we meant to get to that next level right? Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not a photographer by any means, and these aren’t the best photos of the Northern Lights that you will see, but I wanted to share a few of the most important tips I could think of to help other beginners out there get even better pics of the glorious light shows.

A Beginners Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights

Disclaimer

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The destination

I was visiting Northern Norway and staying in this charming cabin in a remote area about an hour away from Alta.

It was perfect because I could see the Northern Lights almost every night giving me lots of opportunities to practice taking photos.

Equipment for photographing the Northern Lights

• Camera: Sony Alpha A6000 with wide-angle kit lens (16-50)
• Tripod: Manfrotto
• Remote Control: Phone

Understand the basic settings

There are three important basics to understand before you get started – ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.

The easiest way I understand it is to imagine them as all affecting the lighting of your photos but also each having other side hustle.

There’s no magic number for what you need to have the settings on because it depends on the environment at the time.

For example, if you are out taking photos on a full moon night, with the moon brightening up the area with a lot of natural light then the settings would be far different to say a dark night with no moon.

Instead, all you need to do each time you go out to take photos is to find the sweet spot between these three main elements.

Don’t be afraid to bump up your ISO. If it’s really dark you might need to start at around 1600 and go up or down from there.

Use manual mode

This is the first and most basic tip for how to photograph the Northern Lights but you know what? I made the ultimate mistake and didn’t do it at first.

I thought shutter priority mode would be best but I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong.

Start in manual mode and you will be able to get better photos of the Northern Lights.

When you are photographing the Northern Lights, play with the white balance for different tones

Use a tripod + shutter release

You will need long exposures for taking photos of the Northern Lights, which means you have the shutter speed very low.

With the long exposure, any movement to the camera or subjects will result in a blurry photo. Even the slight movement made by your finger as you press ‘click’ to get the shot can be too much movement and ruin your photo.

Using a tripod and remote control shutter release is essential.

The tripod helps ensure stillness with the camera and a remote control shutter release means you don’t even have to touch the camera to take the photo.

For the remote control shutter, as I said above, I use the Sony Alpha A6000 and one thing I like about it is that with this you can go to their PlayMemories website and download the smart remote control feature to your camera for free.

Get creative with light to help you focus

For me, getting the camera to focus was the trickiest part of taking photos of the Northern Lights.

When it was very dark, I used a headlamp to shine on the area I wanted to focus on. Then I would turn the light off before taking the photo.

When I was taking photos of myself, I would face the camera with the light on to focus, then turn it off to take the shot. In other shots where I was behind the camera, I could simply shine it on something I wanted to focus on.

You could also work this idea into props. If you have a tent, you could place a flashlight inside facing the sky. It will help the camera focus and also give your tent a nice glow.

I also let some sparks fly to help light up the scene in some shots which was fun.

One of my early attempts – an epic lights show but ba lurry mess of a photo because of the focusing issues

Act fast and pay attention

The Northern Lights are incredible to watch, especially if they are moving fast and showcasing multiple colors. But, if you are trying to photograph the Northern Lights it adds extra pressure for you to be on top of your game.

Keep your gear handy and be ready to go at short notice so you don’t have to fumble through your bag to get set up.

If you are staying in a cabin under the lights like I did then it’s easy to keep your beanie, jacket and other warm clothing items by the door with your camera in the tripod ready for action.

There were a couple of times when I would be so focused on my camera and working on the settings only to get ready to take the photo and look up to notice that the lights had moved on and I would need to readjust.

This taught me how important it was to move fast and pay attention to my surroundings.

Shoot in RAW mode

Shooting in RAW instead of JPEG is a helpful way to improve the quality of your pictures and it allows you a lot more freedom when you go to edit your pictures.

To change this setting just google how to change it for your specific camera. It will only take a second.

Keep track of the Northern Lights forecast

This one doesn’t really help you take a photo but it does help you to avoid missing a photo opportunity.

I used this Aurora app to help keep track of the forecast for the Northern Lights.

It would show the probability of seeing them based on my location and offer forecasts for planning ahead of time, one section for planning in the next hour and another which looked to the upcoming days.

It was handy to have as a guide but I still found that it was important to look outside. There were a couple of times that the forecast said only 10% chance of seeing them, and I would look outside to see a nice Northern Lights show.

Protect your camera

Pack a couple of large ziplock bags and before you go from the cold outside to the toasty warm inside temperature, pop the camera in the ziplock bag and be sure to seal it well.

This way the camera doesn’t have to go from extreme cold to warm too fast, it can adjust slowly inside the bag which can prevent condensation inside the camera.

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