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Aurora Borealis

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Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)

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Feb 19, 2014 at 10:19 pm #1313536

Travis B.
Spectator

@dispatchesfromthenorth

I'm not exactly a photographer, but we've had some great aurora's here the last two nights. I've seen a lot of northern lights but tonight blew my mind…

Feb 19, 2014 at 10:47 pm #2075330

David Thomas
BPL Member

@davidinkenai
Locale: North Woods. Far North.

Very nice. It's been years since I've seen any that good. (And one of the times I did, was near there).

". . .The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge . . ."

-Robert Service

Feb 19, 2014 at 11:15 pm #2075336

d k
BPL Member

@dkramalc

Oh. My. Gosh. Those are amazing. I was thrilled to see the aurora many years ago in Alaska in the summer, up around Admiralty Island, but they were tame compared to these.

Looking at this on my phone right now, can't wait to see them tomorrow on the full computer screen. Maybe someday I will get back up there to see more in person.

Feb 20, 2014 at 6:11 am #2075361

Richard Lyon
BPL Member

@richardglyon
Locale: Bridger Mountains

Amazing is right! Thanks for posting.

Feb 20, 2014 at 7:04 am #2075372

spelt with a t
BPL Member

@spelt
Locale: Rangeley, ME

Awesome.

Feb 20, 2014 at 8:04 am #2075390

Ian
BPL Member

@10-7

Those are great pictures. It's been over a decade since I've seen them in upstate NY. Truly an experience I'll never forget.

The conditions were right for a great show here in Washington a couple months ago but sadly it was cloudy all week.

Feb 20, 2014 at 9:59 am #2075417

Maris L
BPL Member

@ablaut

Incredibly beautiful. Thanks for taking the time and sharing a few photos.

Feb 21, 2014 at 9:48 am #2075721

Matt Dirksen
BPL Member

@namelessway
Locale: Mid Atlantic

Breathtaking!

Thank you!

(I saw them only once about fifteen years ago, on a cool evening in Mt. Airy, Maryland, of all the places in the world to see them.)

Feb 21, 2014 at 10:54 am #2075742

Chad B
BPL Member

@cenazwalker
Locale: Southwest

I am pretty sure you live in heaven.

Feb 21, 2014 at 12:42 pm #2075760

Joe Geib
BPL Member

@joegeib
Locale: Delaware & Lehigh Valleys

epic. wish i can experience even a fraction of that one day.

Feb 22, 2014 at 10:44 am #2076026

Marc Eldridge
BPL Member

@meld
Locale: The here and now.

I was living in North Idaho and was working the swing shift at the sawmill and was driving home one night when I noticed a bright light to my left as traveled from west to east. At first I thought it was the moon rising until I realized that the moon doesn't rise out of the north. I pulled into an overlook and was treated with the best display of my life. I sat on the hood of the truck for about 45 minutes just watching them swirl above me.

Mar 4, 2014 at 10:16 pm #2079571

Kyle Crawford
Spectator

@getupandgo
Locale: SouthEast

What is this/are these called? I personally have never seen anything like it before!

getup

Mar 5, 2014 at 10:29 am #2079708

Dale Wambaugh
BPL Member

@dwambaugh
Locale: Pacific Northwest

Nice work!

The Northern Lights are fascinating, reminding us that we are on a ball of rock spinning in space. I've seen them maybe twice in Seattle over the years.

We took a sub-Polar flight to Europe in the winter of 1986 and saw the Northern Lights for HOURS. It really was amazing. I have a window seat and my forehead kept getting cold from leaning on a window over the Arctic at 30,000 feet.

One the return flight, we went over Greenland in broad daylight and it was crystal clear, which is really rare. That was fantastic too, like another planet.

Apr 4, 2014 at 9:43 am #2089591

Christopher Chupka
Member

@fattexan
Locale: NTX

I was lucky enough to see them in March of 89, at the Army's Winter Warfare School. They seemed so close, it was if you could actually hear them. It was almost a soft humming static electricity sound, really don't know how to describe it or if it was all our imagination.

May 8, 2014 at 12:36 pm #2100507

Virginia Craft
Spectator

@as-it-is

Heck yea! Those photos turned out incredible! Great job!

Jun 16, 2014 at 11:51 am #2111926

Adam Klags
BPL Member

@klags
Locale: Northeast USA

Hey what kind of camera and light settings were you using there? I assume you had a nice tripod or was it bright enough to not need one? I once was lucky enough to see them in Amherst, MA. Looked like a multi-colored cathedral from the rennaissaince period. So epic.

Sep 3, 2014 at 11:53 am #2132449

Travis B.
Spectator

@dispatchesfromthenorth

Hey Adam,

I never noticed your message, so sorry for not responding sooner. I used a Sony Nex6 for those photos. I only have a gorillapod for a tripod so for some shots I had the gorillapod wrapped around a tree branch, and for others I placed it on a log or right on the ground to take the shots. Wouldn't have been possible to get clear shots without some sort of stabilization.

As for camera settings – I played around with the exposure quite a bit. Shots varied from between 4 second shutter speed to 30 second shutter speed. I took the shots with shutter priority mode so the camera adjusted the aperature for me. I also played around a bit with the ISO, but if I remember correctly ISO 1600 gave me the best results. Higher ISO tended to produce too much noise.

It was all new for me, and was only my second time photographing the northern lights. I was also trying to enjoy the lights instead of fiddling around with my camera settings. Hopefully with another winter coming on I'll get more opportunity.

Cheers…
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