Aurora, Yllas, Finnish Lapland

[mcrowle]

Hi

Having just completed a week's holiday in Yllas, Finnish Lapland, in the hope of viewing and photographing the Northern Lights, I'm delighted to say that it did not disappoint!

During my stay, I was able to view and capture aurorae on 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 January - i.e. 5 of my 7 nights.  Even the weather co-operated, with two of the nights forecast as 'mostly cloudy' actually being almost entirely clear (at least while I was still awake ). To be fair, at least one of the displays I captured was barely visible to the eye.

However, the photo below was taken on the night of 8/9 January, at the peak of the best display.
Details: 6 seconds at f/2 and ISO 1600; Canon EOS 7D and Samyang 24mm f/1.4.

Regards, Mike.

[Moonshane]

Fantastic!

[Ruud]

That's impressive! Wonderful, magic curtains of light in the sky.

I was thinking, for the sake of amateur astronomers, wouldn't it be nice if people could switch off the northern lights , if needed? Or aren't they on every night?

It's dilemma. But a beautiful one!

[mcrowle]

Thanks, Ruud.

Yep, coming from southwest England I love to see the Northern Lights when I get the chance. However, I'm mostly a deep sky imager - so I'm sure they would become a nuisance at times if I lived as far north as Yllas .

Regards, Mike.

[Craney]

Hi Mike,

Fantastic image.   My only aurora shot to date is from Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire !!   ... and so I have a secret desire to have a good go at imaging them.  How did you end up in Northern Finland, were you on a ski-holiday or a dedicated aurora package ??

Sean.

[mcrowle]

Hi Sean,

Thanks. I took a ski package with Inghams with the specific intention of watching for the Northern Lights - as I don't have an interest in Winter sports .

It was a bit of a gamble, as I'd previously been to ski resorts only in the Summer for walking (and photography) and I didn't know to what extent I could get around. The answer was not as much as I hoped (I didn't realise the mapped paths were just for cross-country skiers). Still, I was able to explore to an extent (including via snow-shoes) and do plenty of landscape photography - while waiting for nightfall and possible aurorae.

Incidentally I have joined so-called aurora tour groups in the past, but have found that the majority of fellow travellers have little interest in making the effort required to see the aurora.

Best regards, Mike.

[Fozzie]

Fantastic Photo..

I know that hill very well.... behind the hotel SAAGA I believe.... can't tell you how much I want to go back, heck I reckon I could live there!

Glad it didn't disappoint.. Looks like you had a great display overall..  I spoke to so many people when I was there and so many hadn't managed to see them, and all I could think was "how haven't you seen them?"

Looking at that photo its difficult to understand how they managed to miss them!

Any more photo's.... would live to see them.

Thanks for sharing, it's brought loads of memories back and a dreary Wednesday morning!

Fozzie

[mcrowle]

Thanks, Fozzie!

Yes, the photo was actually taken from my room at the Saaga Hotel. Luckily I had looked out of the window just before getting into bed that night, and only then realised I could see the aurora from there! I proceeded to take about 6 Gb of images over the next 90 minutes as the display developed and until cloud moved in about 1:30am. I found it funny that I'd captured lesser displays while outside in all my cold weather gear, but there I was photographing this while in my pyjamas .

By the way, if my room had been across the corridor the view would have been into the floodlit car park.

I too spoke to others who had failed to see the aurora all week. I suspect either they did not try to get away from the artificial lights, or they hadn't been patient enough to wait for clouds to clear or for a display to develop.

I'm in the process of working through the photos, and will post more shortly. I also have a time lapse of this display, though I'm not sure I can display that on SGL.

Regards, Mike.

[Fozzie]

Did you try the rye porridge for breakfast......?

I had a carpark view room... that LED sign over the car park by the way! {delete expletives} it's no wonder you couldn't see anything really from there..

I walked up that hill to get away from it, (in tracksuit bottoms, long sleave top and body warmer, it was -18 or something.. didn't feel it at all, too busy!the ambient light was enough to nicely illuminate my foreground even up there..

You could try "Gif" for the time lapse.. I did one from 4 frames, I was to busy spinning the camera taking photo's to think of doing a proper time lapse run.. didn't stop to think.

looks like you had a fantastic show either way.

[mcrowle]

No, I didn't try the rye porridge - perhaps next time, lol!

I walked down amongst the trees, along the well-trodden snow-shoe paths, to escape the lights. The tour rep had suggested walking up the hill - but I didn't know where I  could (and couldn't) walk that way to be honest, and I didn't try.

My time-lapse was created pretty much by default - I was restricted by the window view during the chance viewing of the most active display, and I didn't move the tripod much while I took 6 Gb of images! If and when I post on Flickr I'll provide a link, if that's appropriate.

In the meantime, some more images. From my first night (7 Jan), when the aurora was not very active but comprised a distinct pale green arc low towards the North:

[Ruud]

Oh! The first one directly above is stunning!

[mcrowle]

The second night (8 Jan) was the best by far.

While outside in the evening I photographed a broad wash of green all over the sky, but the most impressive structure appeared only later as I was about to go to bed. In addition to my original post in this thread, I captured the following:

[mcrowle]

9 Jan was partly cloudy, but there was still some activity: 

[mcrowle]

I did capture some aurora on 10 Jan, but it barely showed through high cloud; the next night was entirely lost to low cloud, so the last display for me was on 12 Jan:
 

[mcrowle]

Thanks for viewing!

Regards, Mike.

[Fozzie]

Excellent Mike.. just excellent!

[laudropb]

Lovely set of images. I am as green as the aurora with envy.

[michaelmorris]

Great shots. 

[Pete Presland]

What a fantastic set of images, simply stunning views!

[mcrowle]

Many thanks, all, for the kind comments!

Best regards, Mike.