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p.2 #13 · Your Best Nightscapes and how they were made | |
OK....
Don't sleep! I have a young family... If I want to have any ME time, I do it when they are all asleep. Works great except for the fact I don't sleep.
There are a few websites like www.spaceweather.com that display a real-time photo of the active aurora belt in the northern hemisphere. Their forecast section, lower left of the page, is pretty good as a reference. If I see something is headed my way, then I will look into the cloud cover in my area. Find a dark spot at least 50 miles from any city, light pollution bad, dark good! Don't shoot over a city either.
Good tripod, 800-1600iso and f2.8 glass help when activity is lower. f4 glass and the same ISO ranges work great if activity is good. The lower the exposure time you need the more details in the Aurora you will see. 15 sec and as high of an ISO you are willing to go, is a good place to start but you will need active aurora to get good images.
Then drive around in the country in the middle of the night like a crazy fool looking for a suitable backdrop, once you find a lake/trees/building whatever... remember its dark out, sometimes that can be difficult. Then stand around in the dark and wait. I use a combination of GPS/Smartphone/Google maps/laptop to allow me to do all the nav and monitor aurora activity in my vehicle. Aurora chaser, not a storm chaser.
One last thing... This is a fantastic display! Everyone has to see it with their own eye at least once, think “Bucket list”, but it is an act of mother nature, so a little bit of luck always helps! So does an understanding wife, and NO, she won't be reading this!
Any other questions
Z
It's ALL about the light...
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