No Time To Think
Up until this point, the Northern Lights have eluded us - usually because we're in bed by 23:00 hrs. This time we actually stumbled on them purely by accident. We'd gone to a favorite haunt to see what the sunset was doing - more so for my better half - as I was still feeling under the weather from a virus. In any case, while she was photographing, I was in the car where it was warm, flipped through Facebook, and stumbled on a "KP5 Warning" from The Great Lakes Aurora Hunters. I have no idea what that meant but it looked serious. At the same time another photographer arrived and began setting up. When I asked her about it, she got very exited and started quoting all kinds of numbers and statistics that meant nothing to me.
So we waited to see what would happen and after dark, a faint fog seemed to arc over the northern horizon. There was jubilation from the other two and they talked about never having seen it that bright before. Still wondering what all the fuss was about, I started to see some interruptions in the patterns of the arc, then spikes reaching high overhead, and finally, hints of green and fuchsia. By then I was running back to the car to grab my own camera.
For the next three hours, we alternated by watching and photographing. At one point there appeared to be soft waves of light that flashed up very fast from the horizon - like flames reaching up.
Camera settings included ISO varying from 1600-2000, f2.8-5.6 and shutter speeds of 15 - 30 seconds. No time to think -
just do!
To end this long winded description I'll have to be honest and say the intensity of the lights in this image is not what we actually saw. The light was softer and the colors not as vibrant. But it WAS there and the longer you looked away from the camera LCD, the more visible it became. For the uninitiated like me, It was truly one of those rare "hallelujah" moments!
No Time To Think
Up until this point, the Northern Lights have eluded us - usually because we're in bed by 23:00 hrs. This time we actually stumbled on them purely by accident. We'd gone to a favorite haunt to see what the sunset was doing - more so for my better half - as I was still feeling under the weather from a virus. In any case, while she was photographing, I was in the car where it was warm, flipped through Facebook, and stumbled on a "KP5 Warning" from The Great Lakes Aurora Hunters. I have no idea what that meant but it looked serious. At the same time another photographer arrived and began setting up. When I asked her about it, she got very exited and started quoting all kinds of numbers and statistics that meant nothing to me.
So we waited to see what would happen and after dark, a faint fog seemed to arc over the northern horizon. There was jubilation from the other two and they talked about never having seen it that bright before. Still wondering what all the fuss was about, I started to see some interruptions in the patterns of the arc, then spikes reaching high overhead, and finally, hints of green and fuchsia. By then I was running back to the car to grab my own camera.
For the next three hours, we alternated by watching and photographing. At one point there appeared to be soft waves of light that flashed up very fast from the horizon - like flames reaching up.
Camera settings included ISO varying from 1600-2000, f2.8-5.6 and shutter speeds of 15 - 30 seconds. No time to think -
just do!
To end this long winded description I'll have to be honest and say the intensity of the lights in this image is not what we actually saw. The light was softer and the colors not as vibrant. But it WAS there and the longer you looked away from the camera LCD, the more visible it became. For the uninitiated like me, It was truly one of those rare "hallelujah" moments!