Just a few shots from my short recent trip to Iceland.

[spider72]

All shot with Canon 7D and Sigma 10mm diagonal fisheye lens, f/2.8, ISO 6400, exposures 10 seconds for auroras and 30 seconds for Milky Way.

I was hoping for overhead display but it doesn't happened, at least we have not bad weather and we have seen auroras on three nights out of four. Photographed auroras are just weak KP2 activity but it looks like KP4 from far north of Scotland brightness wise.

[Mr Spock]

Lovely colours. I'd love to see an aurora like this.

[symesie04]

The aurora pics are great. I was supposed to be going to Iceland around now but for one reason or another its been called off, so will have to wait till next year now.

[Jonny99]

Wow Great shots 

[Teslar]

There's a chance I might be there in March these photos are making me think I should definitely go. My other half is keen too

[JonH]

Shame you didn't get a more full on display, but at least you saw some activity and had clear skies, and made the most of a great location. Stunning shots Maciek.

I'd love to go myself but am put off by the likelihood of bad weather.

[spider72]

Thanks guys.

Yes, I was counting on  better aurora activity with overhead display to see and photograph corona but at least we had not bad weather and we have seen auroras on 3 nights out of 4.

[Pete Presland]

super colours in the aurora images, stunning! an excellent amount of detail in the milky way imaage as well, was it just a single 30 sec frame?

[spider72]

Thanks. Yes it's single Milky Way shot with 30 seconds exposure time.

[robbie c]

Stunning images and really nice colours love them all 

[Pete Presland]

Thanks. Yes it's single Milky Way shot with 30 seconds exposure time.

wow superb especially for a single exposure!

[spider72]

Thanks again guys.

[Simms]

I went to Iceland back in March and it was a pretty life changing experience for me - considering going back next year but worried it wont live upto the first trip.. we saw aurora on 4 nights out of 8 and the second night was a full on auroral storm.. amazing experience coupled with sleeping in a 4x4 in -27c temperature in the far north of the country..   Lovely photos - I take it these were in the south of the Country near the galcial lake?

[Sandancer10]

Fantastic photo's and I love the foreground for contrast.

[spider72]

Thanks guys.

Yes Simms, almost all pictures above were taken in Jokulsarlon Floating Icebergs Lagoon area in south-east part of the Iceland, except second one which has been taken in Pingvallavatn Lake area not far from Reykjavik, south-west of the country.

[cstew]

Excellent images, might I ask what noise reduction you use to get such clean results at iso 6400?

[spider72]

Thanks cstew.

I use Lightroom 4.4 for postprocessing and I use noise suppression algorithm which is built in to Lightroom under "Details" tab. They are 2 sliders for noise suppression there, one for luminance noise and second for colour noise.

[cstew]

I use lightroom, just upgraded to version 5, what level do you take the nr to? I tend to use around 35 as a max, say if I was using iso 3200 or 6400, but anything higher just washes out the detail. How do  your pics look at 100%?

[spider72]

In most cases I use value between 40-75 for luminance noise (40 for brighter pictures like auroras, higher values for darker like Milky Way shots) and almost always value of 75 for colour noise.

To bring detail back I use quite high value of "sharpening", from 65 to 90 and then "masking" feature (from 25 to 70 depends on the shot) on top of that to avoid bringing noise back when sharpening. I hold "Left Alt" key when doing this (moving "masking" slider), to see what will be sharpened and what will be not, whites represent sharpening areas, black areas will be not sharpened, so you can regulate how much details you want back keeping "bringing back" noise at bay.

[cstew]

Interesting tips, thanks.

[prokyon]

Great landscape, great aurora!

[spider72]

Thanks, landscapes and auroras are my business ... .