I want to take a picture of the Northern Lights tonight....

[buzzer]

Looks like there is a chance to see the northern Lights in the UK tonight if the skies are clear...

Thing is, I only got my Nikon D3200 yesterday and I don't now anything about photography! We will be going somewhere high up tonight and I want to get a few shots... other than set it on auto, of night scene I don't know what the hell settings to try...

anyone help? it will have to be an idiot guide...

[nellyleelephant]

Manual, 15 second exposure and your largest aperture, focus on a star in liveview (assuming you have liveview).

Where in the UK are you?

[buzzer]

nellyleelephant said:

Manual, 15 second exposure and your largest aperture, focus on a star in liveview (assuming you have liveview).

Where in the UK are you?

Thanks, I am in the midlands.... We plan to go up to Clee hill or maybe Wenlock Edge

[nellyleelephant]

I wouldn't get your hopes up too high that you'll see them, but you never know!

If you are lucky, play around with the length of the exposure until you get what you want.

Also, if you have it, use mirror lock-up and either a timed delay on the shutter or a shutter release.

[4Lmike]

It might sound obvious but it's an easy mistake to make...don't forget to point your camera North!

[mikee boy]

tripod

[MysteryLemon]

As above really... 15-30 second exposure, 800iso, general noise reduction off but long exposure NR on, widest angle you've got (18mm probs), widest aperture (f3.5 probs) and manual focus on a light source far off in the distance before pointing at the sky to the north. Go somewhere as dark as possible. You want to avoid any street lighting or towns etc. 20 miles out into the moors will do!

Try get a silhouette of something to add some more interest to the foreground for bonus points :P

You might not get the northern lights tonight but if it's clear, you'll easily capture the stars using the above settings!

I'm far from an expert but took the following photo using the method above.

[honest_delboy]

Took this last week, 15 sec f2.8 ISO400 on a very weak tripod in blowy conditions.

[4Lmike]

honest_delboy said:

Took this last week, 15 sec f2.8 ISO400 on a very weak tripod in blowy conditions.

Where abouts did you take this?

[honest_delboy]

Iceland, about 15 mins outside of Reykjavik. I managed to get off 6 shots before my ebay battery died. This was the best of them.

[tenohfive]

Question for those in the know: I'm planning on popping out this evening to have a pop. What's the best option - open field type area, or up high? I initially thought that going for one of the higher hills might be the best bet, but my missus has suggested (quite validly I suspect) that being up high will almost certainly mean other light sources, be it nearby villages or distant towns etc.

What's the best approach?

[4Lmike]

You want to get as high as you can really. I don't know how far south you are but the lower the northern horizon the better your chances of seeing it.

[Lakelord]

tenohfive said:

Question for those in the know: I'm planning on popping out this evening to have a pop. What's the best option - open field type area, or up high? I initially thought that going for one of the higher hills might be the best bet, but my missus has suggested (quite validly I suspect) that being up high will almost certainly mean other light sources, be it nearby villages or distant towns etc.

What's the best approach?

The aurora is quite a few miles away so I don't think going up a hill is going to make any significant difference. What will make a massive difference is light pollution so chose your venue on how dark it is.
Some tips:
Remove all filters from your camera
Sturdy tripod with remote release
Blank off the view finder.

Don't expect to see bright green aurora visually. It's more likely to appear as a silvery, shimmering cloud but when captured on camera, will show the images you're familiar with.
Good luck.

[tenohfive]

Thanks for the tips. I followed them as best as I could, but had issues focusing to infinity - when it's that dark I can't see the spots in the VF, so I did a sort of bracketing approach - shine a torch and try AF followed by manual focus to infinity marking on lens, and finally manually focusing a touch back from the marked infinity point as (I think) that's where actual infinity tends to be. With 30 second exposures that was time consuming but fingers crossed in the morning I'll have some clear images. I didn't see (either in person or when reviewing the shots in camera) any signs of the Northern Lights, but who knows - I'll process in the morning.

Side note:

My top tip for astrophotography - a) don't use your keys to open the rubber cover to where the remote enters, and if you do b) make sure your house key doesn't fall off, and finally c) if you're too stupid to manage the first two points then make sure you've got a tritium key ring so that having driven home, you can drive straight back to your last location and find your keys quickly.

[strummerville]

Did anyone get anything in the UK last night? (It may be a bit early to ask, many of last night's photographers will be still in bed!)

[Blukoo]

I went to the Cairn O' Mount (along with 30+ other photographers) and I couldn't see anything.
I didn't stay too long, but the conditions were so perfect (dark and clear), yet we still couldn't see anything so I figured it just wasn't going to happen tonight.

Hopefully as reports suggest, then there might be stronger visuals tonight.

[GetCarter]

strummerville said:

Did anyone get anything in the UK last night? (It may be a bit early to ask, many of last night's photographers will be still in bed!)

I checked at 11, and 4 am, and it was cloudy

Aurora watch didn't note any decent activity: http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/

[MysteryLemon]

I was out in the moors near Buxton until around 12pm. Very clear with only a few whisps of cloud but I never saw anything.

Someone on my Facebook has posted a very clear pic, apparently from their bedroom window in stoke on Trent, showing the lights.

I'm not convinced its real considering no one else saw anything.

[JohnS]

I went up a hill near Insch, and stayed until just after 11 but didn't see anything. Tried taking some (first time) long exposure shots of the ruins at the top, but made a schoolboy error and forgot to adjust the lens focus from infinity so everything is blurry

This was the best I came up with (best viewed at low resolution and I can't blame the softness on FB )

[buzzer]

Thanks guys... we did drive up to the top of Clee Hill... as we got to the summit it was very foggy! in fact we struggled to find the road back down off the car park!

No photographs though, but a nice drive there and back on empty roads...