How to photograph Auroras

Recently, aurora activity has been off the charts - less than two weeks ago, aurora activity across Australia (and the world) was the best in at least 20 years.

It meant that auroras were seen and photographed in locations that you previously couldn’t imagine – Uluru in the Northern Territory, Mackay in Queensland, Christmas Island and many more locations.

Those in the southern parts of Australia, especially Tasmania, are likely used to auroras, but to have them right across Australia was simply awesome, and the unbelievable colours and patterns made those nights very special indeed.

I saw a huge number of aurora images posted across social media and there were many great images, and it got me thinking about how there are a few ways we as photographers could take better images if we're ever lucky enough to experience the phenomenon again.

You really need a tripod...

To end up with great shots, you need to use a tripod. Sure, there are shots out there with phones and hand-held cameras but using a tripod for stabilisation is the preferred method. I highly recommend using a sturdy tripod, rather than a Joby GorillaPod or similar. The tripod needs to be on firm ground to minimise camera shake.

...and a remote or Cable Release will help too

Using a remote of cable release will eliminate any movement that may be created by physically pressing the camera’s shutter button with your finger, especially as you'll be using quite slow shutter speeds.

If you don’t own a remote or cable release, you can use the camera’s timer or, if your camera make and model has the feature available, connect it to the manufacturer's app where you can press the shutter button via your phone.

Recommended camera settings

The main problem that arises when photographing auroras arises when photographers who aren’t familiar with the correct settings use ‘normal’ landscape settings (i.e small aperture size, 100 ISO and a reasonably fast shutter speed).

In fact, when it comes to photographing auroras, the settings you'll need are really the opposite to most landscape photography.

My suggested starting point when using a digital SLR or mirrorless camera is to first set your camera to manual mode. Set the camera’s shutter speed to around 15 seconds, the f-stop set to the widest (lowest number) aperture your lens allows, such as f1.8, f2.8 or f4 and finally the ISO at 1600.

Take a few test shots to see the results and if needed, tweak the settings.

If your images are a tad dark, you can either reduce the shutter speed by one stop to 30 seconds or increase the ISO by one stop to ISO 3200. An important point to remember is to not set your shutter speed for longer than 30 seconds, as this can create small arcs in your images due to the movement of the stars.

What about focussing? 

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out there is an aurora alert, travelling long distances to get there, waiting for hours for the aurora to be at its best, then realising after you get back home that all of your shots are blurry due to incorrect focusing!

At the same time, autofocus won’t work when shooting an aurora, so you need to focus manually.

The way to do this is to use your lenses focus ring to first focus to infinity (furthest away), or manually focus on a particular star in the sky and when it is sharp, you'll know you have perfect focus.

Focal lengths

I recommend anywhere from 14mm to approximately 50mm. Lenses with a focal length of 14-18mm will give you a wider field of view and preferred if you are wanting to capture quite a large expanse, but even if you don't have an ultrawide lens like this, you can take a series of images of the scene as a pano and stack them in post.

Building your frame

Aurora images can be made much more interesting by having a foreground feature. This may be a mountain range (such as in the two images shown with this article), an old building, a jetty or a monument.

This is where research comes in. It is definitely worth scouting locations during the day when you can see where you are going and what features you have around you. That way you aren’t fumbling around at night trying to work out where things are or wasting time trying to decide on the best location. 

Where do you find them? 

There are a number of Aurora Facebook groups worth joining. I personally recommend the Aurora Australis Tasmania group of which I have been a member for many years.

There are also websites such as www.spaceweather.com that let you know if there are auroras due and what ‘strength’ the solar flares are.

One important thing to remember is that even if there is a high alert for an aurora, your best chances for seeing and photographing one is when there is no rain and the skies are clear. That doesn’t mean you can’t photograph one when its cloudy (see my shot featured taken in Coles Bay, Tasmania as an example) as this can add interest in your shot.

More than anything, enjoy the experience and remember that if you achieve great photos of an aurora, that’s simply a bonus!

Michael Snedic is a professional wildlife and nature photographer based in Brisbane, Queensland and is the founder of WildNature Photo Expeditions. He regularly presents audio visuals at camera clubs and photography conventions, as well as being a judge for various Australian and international photography competitions. To see which photography workshops and tours Michael presents, please visit wildnaturephotoexpeditions.com