General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy photos of last night's aurora borealis
I realize this isn't political and can't start an argument, but I thought you all might appreciate my first attempts at shooting the Northern Lights (and not hurting them) last night.
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slackmaster
(60,567 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)Richardo
(38,391 posts)Awe-inspiring
janx
(24,128 posts)Thanks for posting them.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Solly Mack
(90,780 posts)Stunning!
ohheckyeah
(9,314 posts)I love them all but especially number 6.
mimitabby
(1,832 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Near Birchwood Camp. This is about 15 miles northeast of Anchorage.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)scale. How cold was it there? We were below zero and I watched them from my porch. THe were white curtains with gold edges.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)But I was having so much fun I didn't even notice until my fingers almost stuck to my tripod when I was taking it down. It was just an incredible glorious night. We're going down along Turnagain Arm tonight to see if we can get lucky again, although the forecast is only "moderate" today. It's worth a shot.
calimary
(81,441 posts)My boys are on tour - all the way up in Boise tonight. That's as far north as they get, after Portland last night. I told them to look to the north in case they might be able to get a glimpse.
These displays are just spectacular! One can only imagine how it was to stand underneath 'em! Beautiful shots, Blue_In_AK!
Celebration
(15,812 posts)Great job!
MelissaB
(16,420 posts)Thanks so much for sharing these.
bluecoat_fan
(262 posts)Please take more photos!
fishwax
(29,149 posts)qanda
(10,422 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)Thanks
likesmountains 52
(4,098 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)My question is, can you see it moving and if it does move about how fast?
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)and are much too large to capture with my 17-40 lens. Some of these arched all the way across from horizon to horizon. They constantly move and shift shape. These are long exposures, about 20 seconds.
tridim
(45,358 posts)Do some move fast and others slow?
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)not too fast, not too slow. Sometimes they just appear suddenly and then move like a curtain in a soft breeze. It's really a phenomenal sight, and last night was some of the best I've seen in my 37 years up here. I just kept shouting oh, wow, oh, wow, for the entire time we were out there.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)I really miss when I lived up north (far north BC and Alberta) how the lights would fill the entire sky, even overhead and to the south. And the red/pink/purple is amazing IRL. I'm a bit further south now but we still get them here - they are not quite as spectacular, however. They are just more like a wave of green ribbon in the north sky. Your pictures are REALLY good, as the lights are very difficult to capture on film. Mind if I ask your settings?
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)ISO 400, white balance set to daylight, P mode, exposure right in the middle, 17 mm (I used the 17-40 f/4.0 lens. I figured I was safe with a slower lens since the moon was so bright, and I really wanted the wide angle). I set my focus to infinity while I could still see something to focus on and then used manual. Let's see, I think that about covers it. Tripod, of course. The exposures were 20-25 seconds generally.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)My last attempt didn't work out so well, but that was when I was just starting to understand photography, and I haven't had any more chances now that I'm not up north.
livetohike
(22,157 posts)Thanks for posting these. Great job .
arthritisR_US
(7,291 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Thank you!
The house looks so cozy!
one_voice
(20,043 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)I hope you have a clear night and get more pictures. These photos make me homesick.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I was surprised at the reds, too. And that deep indigo blue which you really couldn't see with the naked eye.
ceile
(8,692 posts)Isn't nature amazing?
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)I'm cross-posting my reply from the Photography Forum, because Blue_In_AK deserves huge accolades for capturing images like these. I've been a photographer for a pretty long time now, and my jaw is still on the floor.
--
Most mortals don't get to see such a display of light created by nature. Truly, you took beautiful pictures.
You shoot with a 5DMkII, right? What did you do to get the shots? Did you set exposure compensation down to get the shots? How long were you keeping the shutter open? I'll paste your answer in Evernote so that one day, years from now, I can look it up again when I'm preparing for my trip north.
I'll bet I have a pretty good idea of how you felt when you looked at your LCD and histogram after each shot. You start to get a quiet satisfaction that indicates you are very much In The Zone. I could go on, but I'll stop now. So very impressive.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Thanks so much for your kind comments. Yes, I was dazzled and very pleased with the results, especially since I did very minimal post-processing. They looked great right out of the camera. I had shot them in RAW+JPeg, but I really didn't need to do any RAW adjustments. If we go out tonight, I think I'll just take JPGs so I don't have to wait so long between shots.
asjr
(10,479 posts)babylonsister
(171,079 posts)City Lights
(25,171 posts)Thanks for sharing.
liberal N proud
(60,340 posts)Living where the sun don't shine (Cleveland), it is highly unlikely that we will ever see it from here.
Chiyo-chichi
(3,585 posts)Agony
(2,605 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)although I have in the past. They kind of hiss or crackle very faintly.
Agony
(2,605 posts)my head too... having enjoyed listening to the AB many times
Cheers! mush on!
for those who have no idea what we are talking about
http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF6/698.html
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)F*** a bunch of scientists, right?
Agony
(2,605 posts)Geophysicists... even!
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)cold enough.
Agony
(2,605 posts)always a hiss or swishh or swoooosh for me... never heard a crackle that people describe. they are closer when it is colder.
psychoacoustics? maybe... maybe not...
Cheers!
tridim
(45,358 posts)Great pics!
aquamarina
(1,865 posts)elleng
(131,077 posts)Must have been SOOOO exciting!
And you got the Full Moon too!!!
Worried senior
(1,328 posts)I've seen the northen lights a couple times here in WI but nothing like this. I keep hoping before I die that I get to see them again.
Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)PufPuf23
(8,821 posts)bluerum
(6,109 posts)ArnoldLayne
(2,068 posts)tabatha
(18,795 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Those are stunningly beautiful!
Thanks.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Those are absolutely beautiful - thanks for sharing with those of us that didn't get the light show.
I am impressed by your photography also!
lunatica
(53,410 posts)What an incredible light show.
SalviaBlue
(2,918 posts)I hope I see that in person someday. You're so lucky. Thanks for posting.
siligut
(12,272 posts)You took some amazing photos of some amazing phenomenon.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)Thanks for sharing.
powergirl
(2,393 posts)That is a challenge to capture that in photos - you are talented, indeed. I am an artist and the pictures would be a beautiful subject for a painting. Keep up the good work!
handmade34
(22,757 posts)thank you for sharing... these are wonderful!
unapatriciated
(5,390 posts)jillan
(39,451 posts)to enjoy that!
Little Star
(17,055 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)CC
(8,039 posts)and I am glad you got to take these and more so see them. Hope you get some more too. (Greedy here. lol) I really like the last couple, including the distortion of the trees. Makes them look like they are reaching for the center of the lights.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Daphne08
(3,058 posts)Taverner
(55,476 posts)I can't wait until I can see Aurora Borealis some day!!!!!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)Wanna bet? Seriously, great pics. I must get to Alaska one day to see this.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)I got up three times last night to try and watch them; we had them down here in wa, too, but pesky clouds were mostly in the way. Glowing clouds, with colors peeking thru.
I sure appreciate your pics...thank you so much for sharing!
MagickMuffin
(15,951 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 10, 2012, 02:25 AM - Edit history (1)
You are such an amazing photographer and your talents never failed to be awe inspiring.
Do you own a video camera?
It would be really wonderful to see the aurora in real time. However, I think stringing together stills would also work.
Does your camera do time lapse?
I've seen quite a few time lapsed pics edited together that really get my attention and make me take notice. As a video editor I would love to do something like that.
Blue_In_AK you deserve a
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)I love #4 but all of them are spectacular.
Whisp
(24,096 posts)so gorgeous.
beautiful shots.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,683 posts)You did a wonderful job!
Thank you for sharing these...
FedUp_Queer
(975 posts)HarveyDarkey
(9,077 posts)While picking up my jaw off the floor.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)ta for posting.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)as an argument!
Kudos to you for that sly observation about DU
Irishonly
(3,344 posts)Your photos are beautiful. If you had not written they were a first attempt I would not have known.
Delphinus
(11,840 posts)What a wonderful landscape in which you live.
Thank you for sharing the beauty of nature with us.
unionworks
(3,574 posts)Just....WOW.... I cann understand why Native people believed these were spirits. In my opinion they were corrrect in doing so. Thanks for posting these so much!
abbeyco
(1,555 posts)Thank you so much for sharing! Not only do you live in a beautiful area, your photos are magnificent and I'm envious of what you were able to witness.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)immoderate
(20,885 posts)--imm
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)Wow!
bpositive
(423 posts)These are amazing
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)Good work.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)It's probably the best display this close to Anchorage I've seen since I've been here.
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)vision, but kind of off to the side. The brighter and longer lasting they were the easier it was to look straight at them.
And of course still photography never gives the sense of the movement of the waves and shift and flux of the colors.
I don't remember seeing any quite that intense or large before.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)Those are some amazing photographs! Thanks for sharing them with us!!
K&R
Cleita
(75,480 posts)The solar flares are making such a lovely show.
highplainsdem
(49,029 posts)Beaverhausen
(24,470 posts)someday I hope to see that with my own eyes.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I kind of compare it to curtains blowing in a very gentle breeze. These are 20-25 second exposures, but they look pretty much like they did as I was looking at them. One difference is that the camera lens at that extended exposure time picked up more of the reds. You could see the red with the naked eye, but not to this extent. I was pleasantly surprised to see that color show up so bright. It's kind of unusual to get this multi-colored effect.
Beaverhausen
(24,470 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)The m,oon is also in the photo with the tall trees. I just used the tree trunk to block the light so the aurora would show up better.
boxman15
(1,033 posts)You did a wonderful job and you're truly lucky to have been able to see them! Hopefully I'll be able to see them one day.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)pacalo
(24,721 posts)I especially like the 6th picture that includes the cabin with the lit windows.
Breathtakingly beautiful!
Gman
(24,780 posts)I didn't know that...
I live in South Texas, BTW so pardon my ignorance please.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)It was very, very bright out there, plus it looks lighter because of the long exposure.
kdmorris
(5,649 posts)krispos42
(49,445 posts)Wow.
icymist
(15,888 posts)Good job photographing these.
BiggJawn
(23,051 posts)I need a Kp index of at least 8 to see them here, and it only got to 7 last night, with a moon bright enough to read by.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)intheflow
(28,497 posts)Those are amazing!
You have just convinced me that I need to visit you in the winter.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I trust we'll be able to visit you when we're down in Aurora the end of June, first part of July? It's Heather's 40th birthday bash.
intheflow
(28,497 posts)You can meet my new squeeze!
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Heather and Robby just bought a house in Littleton, and they'll be moving in the first of June. Is that closer to you? Sebastian will go to Columbine High. ! (Not right away, of course. )
Mira
(22,380 posts)midnight
(26,624 posts)Bozita
(26,955 posts)marasinghe
(1,253 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)No such luck. So glad you posted these photos!
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Rhiannon12866
(205,888 posts)Not only beautiful, but so very well done!
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)Blue_Roses
(12,894 posts)I have to pile on with everyone else...these are beautiful pictures! My sister lived in Anchorage and I have to show these to her. She loved living there and always mentioned the "Northern Lights". Thank-you for sharing these!
PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)Thank you!
Behind the Aegis
(53,976 posts)I am so jealous!
Judi Lynn
(160,601 posts)You'll have to experience it for all of us!
Thank you, so much.
Ohio Joe
(21,761 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)bobburgster
(1,740 posts)Thanks for sharing!
randr
(12,414 posts)I don't know if I would get any sleep if the nights were like this.
Stinky The Clown
(67,818 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I would love to see these in person someday!
Great shots!
alfredo
(60,075 posts)cate94
(2,813 posts)stunning!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)jamesatemple
(342 posts)I've got to give you an emphatic and heartfelt "thanks". I've known of the Northern Lights since I was a kid. But, being a native Texan, I had no real concept of them nor any hope of ever viewing them. Then, in the 1970's, an surveyor here in East Texas talked me into a trip with him up to Fairbanks to get a "feel" for the job market during those days when Alaskan bumper stickers stated "Happiness is seeing 10,000 Okies going home ~ carrying a Texan under each arm".
Then, one night in August, I believe it was, I was walking down a Fairbanks street and even the street lights didn't keep me from seeing that amazing natural light show. The sight froze me in mid stride then and remains firmly embedded in my memory these forty-plus years later.
A couple of nights later, I stayed at a motel some five miles out of Fairbanks and came down for a cup of coffee in the early morning. Now, two things I had noticed about those good Alaska folks: One, many of the barkeeps were women; and, two, all of them liked to poke fun at Texans. And this good barkeep/waitress was no exception. When she asked, "What'll you have?", I answered without thought to my Texas twang, "I reckon I'll just have a cup of coffee, ma'am". Well, of course, that elicited the next question from her, "Where you from?". "The South", says I. But that answer wouldn't do. Her next question was, "What part?". I mumbled, "Texas", so quietly as I could since the place already had a goodly crowd of working men who had turned an attentive ear to the interrogatory. I knew what was coming next: "We're gonna divide Alaska up into five states so Texas will be the sixth largest". That declaration elicited several snickers and a few laughs from the listeners.
Then, she seemingly wanted to make amends for the jibe by asking me if I had seen the light show during the night. I told her that I hadn't. She didn't accept that reply and stated, "You know, the Borealis". I reiterated that I had stayed in my room and hadn't seen the lights. Certain that a Texan wouldn't have the foggiest notion of what she was taking about, she coached me one last time with, "The Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights!"
Well, my friend, we Texans aren't particularly known for timidity and are known, rightfully, I suspect, for running our mouths loudly when remaining quiet would be the better course of action. In a voice calculated to be heard along a major portion of the bar, I informed the instructor in my finest drawl, "Ma'am, there ain't a kid in Texas over the age of five that doesn't know about the Northern Lights. In fact, it was a Texas electrician that wired the damn thing!"
I guess that the roar of laughter around the bar covered up my request for more coffee, 'cause I didn't get another solitary drop. I'm very much obliged to you for "knockin' the dust" off a valued memory.
malaise
(269,157 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)and one I can completely relate to. My husband is a Texan, by the way. We first went together in high school back in the early '60s when we both lived in Pasadena/South Houston. We broke up in 1963 but reunited in 2000 and rekindled the romance. He was still living in Texas, and I had been in Alaska since 1975. I told him that if he wanted to be with me, he'd have to come here because I SURE wasn't moving back down there. No offense, but after you've lived up here for as long as I have, Texas looks awfully flat and feels too damn hot. ... As you can see, I'm still in Alaska, and now so is he.
Fairbanks and Anchorage were like the wild west back in the '70s with the pipeline boom. I'm glad you got to experience those halcyon days.
sufrommich
(22,871 posts)sarge43
(28,942 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)How many of us will never have a chance to see this in person--thank you so much for showing it to us via your pictures.
Lunabelle
(454 posts)Thanks for posting your amazing pics!!
inna
(8,809 posts)will post more if i can later....
guardian
(2,282 posts)I've never seen it in person.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)Thank you.
Some thinks you can see from your front porch in Alaska are pretty neat.
LittleGirl
(8,291 posts)and this is exactly how they looked that night. I couldn't stop watching it. Thank you, thank you for reminding me what it was like. awesome!
wow.
SunSeeker
(51,662 posts)Thanks so much for posting. I wish I could see it in person!
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)PavePusher
(15,374 posts)Given the current solar storms, you should have good lights for a few nights. Alas that I currently live too far south to see this stuff right now...
pipoman
(16,038 posts)Pachamama
(16,887 posts)I know you envy the nice warm weather we have here in ole California - but I envy that you get to see that....
TBF
(32,086 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)Nynah
(1 post)What an unexpected pleasure! Amazing photos!
caseymoz
(5,763 posts). . . caught on a newscast in Phoenix.
http://goo.gl/iAWil #not_a_ufo
But nothing went boom. I think it was a borealis effect that far south. Of course, I have no proof of that. Unless UFOs explode quietly (with a technology that Bullwinkle called "Hushaboom," no doubt). There's nothing I know of that could have done that.
sdfwefwe
(5 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)I went on a 10 day performance tour in the Kenai Peninsula some years ago.. In fact it was back late March and April in 99..
Never got to see the northern lights, but I was amazed with the unusual colors and hues of the sky, glaciers, and general environment. it was an awesome experience.. love to go back up.
I even dig the state flag, I'm not much of a"flag" worshiper, but Alaska is different.
These photos are beautiful thanks for sharing here...
aikoaiko
(34,183 posts)One of the downsides to living below the Mason-Dixon line is forgoing such beautiful events.
cynannmarie
(113 posts)It is one of the biggest unfulfilled dreams of my life to see the Notrthern Lights, but don't know if it will ever happen. Can I ask how often do they appear-- on average? So glad you got to experience this wonder, and share it with us!
cat lady-in-w8ing
(5 posts)Aurora comes in view...And I ran...I ran so far away...
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Thank you so much for posting these - amazing photography! Sometimes even here we need to stop arguing politics and just look at something beautiful. We live in an amazing world.
Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)Probably the only thread every posyed at DU that people are unanimous on ....fantastic pics! We see the AB very occasionally up here in Maine..but nothing like this.