and flowed all day. Despite a nearly 100
percent cloud cover at sunset, we exited
dinner to a ceiling of stars and beelined
back to Glacier Lagoon.
Waiting in the lagoon parking lot, we
could see a faint aurora but stayed in the
car because, “This is no better than last
night.” (One success, and we’re already
aurora snobs.) What might look promis-
ing one minute would all but disappear
the next. Then we noticed new activity in
the northwest sky that went from 0-to-60
so fast that we bolted down to the lagoon-
like Keystone Cops. By the time my gear
was set up, the sky had transformed into a
green and red psychedelic extravaganza,
and we were in business.
The next several hours were a blur
as I witnessed what was quite possibly
the most extraordinary sight of my life.
Starting in the western sky, across the
lagoon, the show gradually moved south
(defying all my expectations), forcing me
to constantly shift further up the lagoon
to keep ice and water in my foreground.
With my head on a swivel, I saw col-
ored tendrils stretch skyward, some touch-
ing both the east and west horizons, others
slowly pulsing, spiraling and doubling
back until I felt like I was inside a giant
lava lamp. The motion was like the min-
ute hand on a clock—not apparent at any
given instant but obvious if I kept my eye
on one feature for just a minute or two.
At one point, I tore my eyes from the
spectacle above the lagoon and saw the
entire eastern sky behind me ablaze with
tangled green ribbons so intense that I
instantly grabbed my gear and scrambled
up the snowy hill for a better view in that
direction. Over the course of maybe 20
minutes, that display rocketed heavenward,
filling the entire eastern sky from horizon to
zenith, slowly drifting north and finally to
the west and back over the lagoon, forcing
me to race (and tumble) back down the hill.
When the display showed signs of wan-
ing, I slowly made my way back to the
car, shooting along the way. The show that
night lasted for hours and was still going
when we finally decided to head back to
the hotel to count our riches. OPSee more of Gary Hart’s work at
garyhartphotography.com.Northern Lights: 15 Lessons Learned
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latitudes might just be the coldest temperatures you’ve ever experi- enced—dress accordingly because few things will shorten or distract a great shoot faster than cold. In addi- tion to a robust, hooded down jack- et, I was comfortably toasty in a wool hat, balaclava, wool base un- iÀÃ
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times) insulated powder pants, thin
liner and heavy gloves, wool socks
and insulated boots.
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think you’ll need) and keep them
warm. In extreme cold, lithium-ion
batteries can go from 50 percent
charged to exhausted in minutes.
It’s best to store batteries next to
ÞÕÀ LÞ >ÉÀ VÃi Ì >
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source, like a heated glove or
hand-warmer pouch. And when a
battery runs down, it may be reus-
able once it’s warmed.
3 Learn how to control your camera in
the dark. Not just exposure, compo-
sition and focus but also how to dis-
play and magnify an image on your
LCD by touch (to check focus).
4 Pre-scout your locations when pos-
sible, looking for a striking fore-
ground to go with your aurora. Re-
member, while the northern lights
tend to concentrate in the northern
sky, an intense display can appear in
any direction, so the more direction
options your location option has,
the better your chances.
5 The aurora photography goal is to
capture sky color and foreground
detail, but your exposure will vary a
lot with the aurora’s intensity and
the amount of moonlight (which
isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker as it
can be for the Milky Way). Monitor
your histogram constantly—unlike
Milky Way and other night photog-
raphy, aurora exposures can change
by multiple stops in minutes and
sometimes seconds. An exposure
that worked one minute may com-
pletely blow out the aurora the next.
6 Turn on your camera’s “blinking high-
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decision on my camera’s highlight
alert, but I do use it as a reminder to
check my histogram in rapidly chang-
ing light—this saved me several times
during that intense aurora shoot.7 If the aurora is fairly static, more of a
homogenous color in the sky, shut-
ter speeds up to 30 seconds won’t
be a problem. On the other hand, if
you’re photographing shifting cur-
tains and tendrils of intense color,
you’ll want to limit your shutter
speeds to 10 seconds or faster to
avoid blurring the rapidly changing
aurora detail.8 The extreme cold seemed to pre-
vent my sensor from getting too
hot, allowing me to push my ISO a
stop higher than I normally would.9 With a great foreground right at my
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v wi` LiV>i Ài
important than it is in most of my
night shoots. Check your focus each
time you change your focal
length—a night image that appears
sharp on your LCD may be soft
when viewed on the computer.10 A wide, fast zoom lens will probably
be your best bet.11 Generally, you’ll want to give your
frame at least two-thirds sky, but
base your horizon placement on the
relative beauty of the sky and fore-
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tacular foreground, my compositions
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versus sky.12 Shoot both horizontal and vertical
frames.13 Move around to change your fore-
ground, and try to coordinate the
foreground features with aurora fea-
tures. It’s easy to get locked into
one location or composition be-
cause everything’s so beautiful, but
remember that it’s probably just as
beautiful over there or facing that
direction.14 Even if you can’t see the aurora re-
yiVÌi`Ü>ÌiÀ]ÞÕÀV>iÀ>}
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be able to.15 Ƃ`w>Þ]Ì>i>viÜÕÌiÃÌÃÌi«
away from your camera and appreci-
ate the beauty you’re witnessing.58 Outdoor Photographer outdoorphotographer.com