Advice about photographing the Aurora

[M4lcs67]

Hey folks. Funnily I posted on the imaging forum page, but no one has responded, so I thought I would revert to the good old general help and advice page instead.

 

My wife and I are going on an Aurora cruise next February along the Norwegian coast and up into the Artic circle and I am hoping to take lots of pictures while we are up there. There are lots of stop-off where I could set up a tripod, but Aurora permitting I may be setting up on the ship as well as, so I would be looking for advice on a decent, solid tripod where I can attach my camera.

 

The camera is a Lumix TZ10 digital compact and there are plenty of features on it such as delayed exposure, altering the iso etc, but I am an utter novice at this astrophotography thing, so some hints and tips on what to do would be very welcome.

Thanks alot

[astronymonkey]

Hi Malc,

There are good resources on the web like this http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/astronomy-photographer-of-the-year/how-to-photo-guides/aurora/ but the main thing is to make sure your camera has the necessary settings. I know you mention having delayed exposure but it is long exposure that you need in order to leave the shutter open longer. looking at the specs of your camera it seems to have a starry night mode of 15, 30 and 60 secs so that should be enough,  and has an iso of upto 6400 which is more than enough.

Before you go though lean the features you have on your camera and how to adjust the settings, theres nothing worse than having to learn the camera in the dark and then realising the following day that you could have got better photos if only you had used a different setting. An example is that it took me 4 weeks to realise that my camera only allowed exposures of longer than 30 seconds if I switched to remote control mode ..... but then I had to buy a remote to activate the shutter !

Enjoy your trip,

[carastro]

I am an experience imager, but have little experience of take astrophotos without a telescope and laptop.  so when I went to Iceland in February 2012 I had to mug up on how to get photos with the lens only.  getting focus was the first big challenge, and I was told to focus on something bright like Jupiter, zoom in on the LCD screen whilst trying to focus (hope you have one) and to get Jupiter as small as possible.  I am not sure how you would do this with a compact camera, but in my case I was able to mark the position on the lens.

I then took a remote cable with me and took 20 second shots at something like F3.5.  10 seconds would probably do, but you do need some sort of long exposure. 

I am not sure if this is any help since I have a Canon DSLR.

Carole

[baggywrinkle]

Get the kit you feel you need and practice some widefield shots from home to get a feel for the settings, a lot will have to be done in manual, particularly focusing.

15-20 secs on a tripod will prevent too much star trail with a 24-35mm setting if your lens is a zoom type.

Even on the deck of a ship in harbour there is a lot of movement, you might not feel it but the ship is still rising and fallinf with wave motion as well as moving athwarts with tidal currents and bouncing off the fenders as they strike the jetty. At anchor the ship will swing with the wind along with all the other motions.

[happy-kat]

With your tripod if you don't have a shutter cable could you use the delayed timer then the camera might be steady by the time the lense opens.

I use landscape mode to escape trying to focus but never had the pleasure of seeing the aurora let alone photograph it.

[Ramsay]

With your tripod if you don't have a shutter cable could you use the delayed timer then the camera might be steady by the time the lense opens.

I use landscape mode to escape trying to focus but never had the pleasure of seeing the aurora let alone photograph it.

And perhaps hope that the boat doesn't rock too much!  

[happy-kat]

Yes, but any picture better then no picture :-)

[carastro]

Could you not borrow / hire a DSLR camera, it seems a shame to let the opportunity go to waste.  One of our members took a  compact camera to photograph the aurora and she practised a lot before she went but ended up very disappointed with what she took. 

Carole

[broadway1]

The ship lights will be a problem as will swaying decks for photography, but since you are going to have plenty of time ashore you will have a chance to get some super photos. 

My wife also has a Lumix TZ10. When we went to Iceland last October she got some good photos on the shore by Reykjavik harbour using a pre-set timing of 15 sec plus using a 2 second delay to avoid camera shake.  You need to read the manual to learn how to get to the right settings before shooting, of course.

I used my Canon 600D with a fast wide angle zoom lens I hired from Lens Pimp, and a remote shutter release.  I would echo the need to spend time getting good focus, but also it helps to think about the foreground as this can make for more interesting photos.  A lake can give some good reflections for example.

Note that it is most common to se the Aurora as more silvery grey, rather than the vivid colours you get on photos, but they are quite magical.  Wrap up warm and be prepared to stand around in the cold for several hours. Good hunting!