Basic shooting skills of northern lights in Iceland

Among the many scenic spots that must be photographed in life, I think many people will think that the theme of "Aurora" will be the first number! At the beginning of the year, the author was lucky enough to have the opportunity to shoot, and went to Iceland, a popular place of "chasing aurora", to shoot the Northern Lights for the first time. In particular, I want to share the shooting skills I learned here, so that students can be more prepared in actual combat!

This sharing session will start from three aspects: equipment preparation, camera setting, composition and framing. Start at once, don't delay!

(1) Equipment preparation

Most of the shooting of aurora is also carried out at night, so in fact, the equipment requirements for shooting aurora are very similar to those for shooting night scenes. Basically, you need to prepare the following equipment:

Camera 1 or 2 tripod 1 or 2 cable release 1 battery 2+ lens wide angle x 1 telephoto x 1 fisheye x 1 filter without black card or 1.

camera

Of course, you need a camera to take pictures, and sometimes you need to use high ISO, so Quan Huafu will have an advantage, but it is not necessary. If you have two cameras, you can capture different aurora patterns more conveniently, but of course, one camera can do this! It is recommended to bring a camera with manual mode (M mode) or shutter priority (S/Tv mode).

tripod

A stable tripod is very important, because it will often be windy outdoors. If your tripod is unstable, you will take a failed photo. It is recommended to have enough height to avoid the central axis being lifted too much, which will affect the stability. The tripod head and quick release plate should be stable and locked.

A stable tripod is very important when shooting the Northern Lights.

Some tripods can be equipped with nail feet, which are suitable for use on ice. (network picture)

Cable release device

In order to avoid the vibration when the shutter is pressed, it is recommended to use the cable to release it. If you want to shoot a delayed movie or continuous shooting in the same location, please use wired release.

battery

Batteries will be used faster in cold places, so be sure to bring more spare batteries.

camera lens

It is recommended to take lenses with three focal lengths, because the aurora is changeable, and it is more convenient to have more focal lengths (such as 1 1-24mm): the focal length of shooting a large scene (such as 50-70 mm); And a long focal length (e.g., 200-34 mm) for photographing an object with aurora. )

Although the shots to be taken in travel photography are random, it is best to shoot the Northern Lights with long, medium and short focal lengths. (network picture)

filter

There is basically no need to use filters, and the author also removed the anti-UV/protective glasses when shooting, so as not to affect the imaging (but be careful! )

American Express Centurion Card

According to the situation, if there is no bright light source, it is basically needed.

The fisheye glasses can shoot the aurora in a large range-the photo was taken by Ahpo Ho (Nikon D6 10. 16mm fisheye.f/2.8.ISO 800.10s).

(2) camera settings

Shooting the aurora is very similar to shooting the night scene. Basically, "M-mode" (learning to shoot in manual mode) is the main mode, and the aperture is usually set to the maximum (such as f/2.8, f/4). ISO and shutter should be set according to the following conditions: shooting dark light or wanting to shoot flowing aurora; low ISO (such as ISO320, 640, etc. )+slow shutter (such as 20 seconds) to shoot bright or dancing aurora: high ISO (such as ISO1600,3200, etc. )+fast shutter (e.g.

If you use a slow shutter, you will shoot a flowing aurora. (Nikon D8 10.f/2.8. 100mm. ISO400.20s)

If you use a faster shutter and a higher ISO, you can be afraid of the "jumping" aurora. (Nikon D8 10.30mm.f/4. ISO3200.8s)

Of course, the focus should be set to infinity (to be taught below), the shockproof and automatic ISO functions should be turned off, and remember not to turn on the "long exposure denoising" function to avoid wasting time during shooting. White balance can be set to automatic or directly to sunlight/5000 K. It is recommended to save the photo as RAW+JPG for post-processing. (Why do you want to save the RAW file? )

(3) Composition and framing

Even in the same night, the time and direction of the aurora often change, because the composition of the aurora can change greatly. Students can refer to the following tips:

(1) It is not impossible to find something as a "foreground" to set off the aurora, but it will make the photos look monotonous, so if possible, please find a foil for the aurora, which can be ice, mountains, forests or even cabins, so that the photos taken will be more abundant!

Adding a suitable foreground can enrich the whole photo. (Image by? Green)

(b) The line/diagonal of shooting the aurora

There are many changes in the shape of the aurora, which is basically difficult to predict, but if the aurora is long or curved, you might as well put it on the diagonal, which can set off the dynamics of the aurora.

(c) Decide whether the sky or the ground plays a leading role.

Sometimes you don't have to let Aurora play the leading role. It is also unique to shoot with the aurora as the background and the surrounding environment as the main body!

Shoot the hut with the northern lights. (Photograph by Emile Capco) The brightness of the foreground.

If you have seen photos of Aurora on the Internet, you will see that the foreground of some photos is clear and bright, while others are dark. This is because of the influence of the moon: when the moon is full, the foreground will be lit up, and when there is no moon, the foreground will be very dark, so finally, look at the situation of the moon before arranging your trip and make preparations in advance.

How to adjust the focal length to infinity in the dark?

In the dark, the camera's autofocus is likely to fail. At this time, we have two ways to set the lens to "infinity":

(Method 1) Set it to manual focusing mode, and then adjust the lens to infinity with the focusing scale on the lens;

(Method 2) Set it to auto focus first, then pick up the camera and press it half-way to focus on distant luminous objects (such as the moon, high beam, houses, etc.). ), and then set it to manual focus mode. It is suggested that students use the method of (Method 2) to set it, because the focus scale may be infinitely inaccurate!

The most important element of shooting aurora?

If you want to say that the ultimate element of shooting aurora is not equipment or skills, it is luck! Because aurora is a magical phenomenon in nature, its location, frequency and range are also random. Of course, you can also use some websites or apps to predict the intensity of the aurora, but Icelandic locals also said that it is difficult to "predict" the appearance of the aurora when chatting. Sometimes the prediction is weak but it is brilliant when it appears. Of course, there are weather factors: cloudy, rainy (snowy) and so on will also affect the viewing of the aurora, so it is strongly recommended that all students stay a little longer and pray for good luck!

postscript

Aurora, whether in the North Pole or the South Pole, is also a subject worthy of appreciation and shooting. You have to go once in your life, right? I hope that after reading this sharing, all students can be fully prepared to chase the aurora!