Northern Lights, Northern Scotland
Discussion
NinjaPower said:
If I do go out can anyone give me any tips on what to do/use/settings?
I have a D90 and a choice of:
Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 VR
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Tokina 11-16mm F2.8.
I also have a good tripod and a remote for triggering and using the Bulb setting for exposures longer than the standard max 30 secs.
Never taken long exposure night shots for stars or anything like that before.
If it were me with your kit I'd be using the tokina 11-16, iso 200-400 manual settings, f2.8, 15-30 second exposure, manual focus set to infinity(ish) (depending on if you want to capture something in the foreground as well or not) and take it from there. you could bump the iso up and get a shorter exposure time. I have a D90 and a choice of:
Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 VR
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Tokina 11-16mm F2.8.
I also have a good tripod and a remote for triggering and using the Bulb setting for exposures longer than the standard max 30 secs.
Never taken long exposure night shots for stars or anything like that before.
I was using my Canon Eos 450d, 18-55mm kit lens, iso 400, 60 seconds and playing around with the fstop.
YorkshirePudding said:
Just been out on the moors for about an hour and nothing by me, 
flat-planedCrank said:
Just been out for a drive round and couldn't find any celestial lightshows 
Just come back in now from an hours drive out from Carlisle to the darkness and relatively higher altitude of Alston Moor in the Pennines and saw nothing! dubzter said:
If it were me with your kit I'd be using the tokina 11-16, iso 200-400 manual settings, f2.8, 15-30 second exposure, manual focus set to infinity(ish) (depending on if you want to capture something in the foreground as well or not) and take it from there. you could bump the iso up and get a shorter exposure time.
I was using my Canon Eos 450d, 18-55mm kit lens, iso 400, 60 seconds and playing around with the fstop.
Thanks for that, I would have had a go tonight, but as above... nothing!I was using my Canon Eos 450d, 18-55mm kit lens, iso 400, 60 seconds and playing around with the fstop.
Maybe tomorrow?
So did anyone get anything in Northern England?
Went out last night, and spent about 3 hours travelling around until we got just above Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. Was as far away from light pollution as we could get.
Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
Beautiful stars last night, and though i'm sure the clouds were being illuminated slightly differently than usual, didn't see any light shows
Went out last night, and spent about 3 hours travelling around until we got just above Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. Was as far away from light pollution as we could get.
Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
Beautiful stars last night, and though i'm sure the clouds were being illuminated slightly differently than usual, didn't see any light shows
Lefty said:
Great shot OP, I could see it in West Aberdeenshire but it wasn't as bright as that. Lovely.
What camera/lens did you use?
A camera seems to intensify the colours of the aurora, especially the greens and will often 'see' colours in the aurora the human eye can't, for example reds. What camera/lens did you use?
Next time there's an aurora, give it a go, I think you'll be surprised!
Windy Vortex said:
A camera seems to intensify the colours of the aurora, especially the greens and will often 'see' colours in the aurora the human eye can't, for example reds.
Next time there's an aurora, give it a go, I think you'll be surprised!
As windy has said, if you take a long exposure you will pick up much fainter light than the eye can see. Although the Aurora was blatantly visible to the naked eye the night I took those. Next time there's an aurora, give it a go, I think you'll be surprised!
Fingers crossed for another showing tonight.
Didn't get much in terms of the traditional green Aurora, but there were some lovely reds being given off.
Took a few photos, and this is probably my favourite from the evening:
DSC_2822.jpg by JeanLeSaint, on Flickr
Took a few photos, and this is probably my favourite from the evening:
DSC_2822.jpg by JeanLeSaint, on Flickr
Efbe said:
Went out last night, and spent about 3 hours travelling around until we got just above Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. Was as far away from light pollution as we could get.
Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
I thought about heading towards Malham lat night, but after finding out how icy the untreated roads were near home I decided against it.Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
Tonight looks a dead loss atm with all the mist about.
Bob_Defly said:
Anyone else get any tonight? I'm going to head out later (in Canada).
I had planned to head down to the California coastline tonight, but checking the weather half an hour ago showed 70-90% cloud cover through the early hours, so sounds like it's a no-go for me at least...
YorkshirePudding said:
Efbe said:
Went out last night, and spent about 3 hours travelling around until we got just above Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. Was as far away from light pollution as we could get.
Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
I thought about heading towards Malham lat night, but after finding out how icy the untreated roads were near home I decided against it.Did find quite a few of the roads had frozen over though, so hope no-one slid off like we nearly did a few times!
Tonight looks a dead loss atm with all the mist about.
RWD+Lowish Tread+Ice+1 in the morning is not so great!
But man was it worth it just for the stars. soo clear and beautiful.
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