Onboard

The season to see the selfish lady is coming to an end in Tromsø: in two weeks, nights will become too bright and we will have to wait until late August before we can see her again. As always, when we see that the season is almost finished, we start thinking of all the photos we wanted to take, all the places we wanted to explore, and all the people we would have liked to have on board during our chases.

This is one of those photos I have always thought would be nice: a close-up of the boat, with the northern light emerging from the cabin. BUT... how to balance the elements? How to illuminate the boat? Will the light appear in the right angle? 

This is when we all need to have friends onboard: someone that is willing to be with you while you try to get that photo you are looking for (maybe they are too!). 

For this photo, I wanted to have a full moon illuminating the boat, so the lighting would be constant. I could have given light with a headlamp, or add some flashes here and there, but the light is never as even as the beautiful moonlight. So, instead of about 6 months of darkness for this photo, I only had about 6 weeks (the previous and posterior days to the full moon). In addition, this boat is easily accessible only when the tide is low: high tide makes it very difficult to get as close as I wanted to be: this left me with about 3 weeks of time. Finally, we always need to have clear skies, or we will not be able to see the northern light: one week was cloudy, so I only had about two weeks left from the whole season.

In addition, you need to be in the right place, at the right time. I was lucky this time, and all the elements came in together. However, when we look at a beautiful photo on the net, we tend to forget how much planning is involved, and how may failures are needed for a success. 

If you are starting in photography, remember that your best photo is yet to be taken! And also, that patience always pays off.

Do you have doubts? Drop me a line on my e-mail or on my facebook page!

ISO 500, f=3.2, 5 seconds exposure

Over the hills

run to the hills, says the famous Iron Maiden song. Indeed, when Lady Aurora goes out dancing, we run to the hills, find a vantage point and shoot! 

This photo was taken in a small frozen valley in the Varanger peninsula, northern Norway. I spend most of my summers in that region, with an amazing landscape and brilliant nature: but I was lucky enough to go up there this year, riding a snowscooter (how cool!) and with great company.

During our stay in a tiny cabin, we enjoyed all sorts of weather: first, just cold; one day later, full arctic blizzard; and finally, beautiful clear skies, and fantastic darkness without light pollution. 

Despite the cold and the wind, being out there and seeing her dance is always rewarding. 

Have you had such experiences? Have you felt cold (or warm), tired, but yet fantastic for having done something? Let me know!

ISO 1000, f=2.5, 8 second exposure time

"My World"

The last weeks have been full of weather changes, lots of snow, and days that are become gradually longer. Did you know that days get 10 minutes longer every day in Tromsø during spring? That is a big difference!

In between these difficult days, I managed to get some nice time with friends and northern lights.

So yes, this is my world: snow, darkness, and the selfish lady. A good thermos full of coffee, and life is good!

Panorama composed of 28 photos, processed in Lightroom and merged to a panorama in Photoshop

Cartoon green

This is a frame from my upcoming video, which I hope to have up on the net very soon... Are you excited? What do you want to see? Drop me a line, share this with your friends!

Do you like the cartoon effect?

The land of the northern lights

Norway, the land of the northern lights, where all the magic happens! Yes, yes, it also happens all over the polar arctic circle, but a bit of pride on the land I live in does not harm!

This photo is from almost a month ago, at the finnish border. That was my last night I hunted for northern lights: weather has been quite tricky, and the few nights that have been good enough, my day job has kept me away from spending the night outside... I am hoping to get more opportunities next week! I have kept the photo in a dark setting, since that night the sky was pitch black, sucking away the light from us... until SHE came to us!

I want to ask you something: do you want to know something about the magic of the northern lights? Or about photographing them? Drop me a line and let me know!

ISO 3200, f=3.2, 5 seconds exposure time

The cairn

After a long time under bad weather conditions, and short periods of clear skies, it seems like now we will start having some nice weather to come out and see the selfish lady.
This photo was taken last week close to the Finnish border (in Kilpisjärvi, for the curious ones!).

Right before crossing the border you can find this small stone cairn, on the side of the road: a popular place to stop when you are a tourist, since you can take a photo of yourself with the landmarks of Finland and Norway, one to each side of the parking spot.

This location fulfills several requirements we may have when hunting for the selfish lady: first, there is no light pollution at all, so clouds are white (and not orange!), darkness during new moon is total, and the surroundings offer several photography options. There is only one caveat to this location: the road is very close to the landmarks, and that poses a high risk both to you, and to anyone around you.

We always think that this is obvious (roads are dangerous, who does not know that?), but when we are in awe, looking up into the sky, we tend to forget where are we and what should we do to keep ourselves safe. What can we do to be safer out in the dark?

First, bring a reflective vest! That will make you visible from a long distance, and any car approaching you will quickly realize that there is a person there

Second, avoid being in the middle of the road: photos of endless roads (specially when they are iced) are fantastic, but have to be done in a safe way: control your surroundings, and always be on the lookout for cars and trucks that can (and almost sure, will) come at some point

And third, bring someone with you. Accidents happen, you may encounter a reindeer, a moose, a hare... the arctic is full of wildlife! And you can be lucky to see a shy fox on the side of the road, or nearly under your car. In any case, if something happens, it is better to have someone with you who can help in any circumstance.

Have you had any dangerous situation you want to share? Write a comment and help everyone be safer while hunting the lights!

ISO 3200, f2.8, 6 seconds exposure time

Fighting with the moon... and dawn

Here our lady of dawn is actually fighting with the rising moon, which is fighting with the dawn. This is the struggle we always get when we go out to see the selfish lady: we have to find clear skies, darkness, a foreground… and then just a cup of coffee and wait. If you wait long enough,  she comes to you and dances.

This is not the greenest northern light, nor the strongest. But there is something we have to remember: the selfish lady does not always come and dance with her best dress, she can be tired sometimes and just come to say a shy ”hello” before going back to bed...

If you are patient enough, you can see her. Seeing the northern lights is not for the light-hearted! Be ready, and be waiting!

Do you have more questions? Drop me a line on northernlightchannel@gmail.com or on my facebook page!

ISO 160, f=1.4, 2 seconds exposure time. Panorama merged from 5 vertical photos

Lady of dawn

"Lady of dawn"
The season has started in Tromsø! Now we just need to get darker skies and all the aurora addicts will be happy!
As you can see in the shot, our favourite lady was fighting against the sunset and the clouds, although it was 1AM. We do not get proper nights anymore, but she is eager to come and visit us!
This photo was shot from Tromsø island, close to university. I had to run a lot to find a dark spot to get her photo! 
Feel free to share, and let me know your thoughts!

 ISO 100, f 2.2, 10 seconds exposure time

Northern light challenge

While we wait for the northern light season to begin, why not start warming up our editing skills? Here you have the download link for the JPEG and RAW photo, just choose the one you prefer to edit and send me your result! Just send me a mail with the photo attached to northernlighchannel@gmail.com or as a message/wall post on Facebook, and I will share it in the album I have created for this challenge.
Feel free to do as much editing as you want, add or remove elements with Photoshop, put your signature, share it with your friends... just go crazy!
Download the files here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tosz93hljlio2a0/NL%20Challenge.zip?dl=0

And follow the challenge on the album, I will try to post all the photos I receive. And feel free to tag yourselves, I will definitely give credit to every person

This is the unedited photo, let's see how would you like to see it!

This time, I let you find out the settings I used :) Let me know if you have questions!

Steal this photo

Yes, steal this photo! Make it yours, own it, get it...

This is what I have seen and experienced during the last northern light season. Some people have stolen my photos, some people have used them with permission. 

But what is "sharing"?

This question has popped up several times when I have confronted the people that have used  the photo without my permission. 

Social networks have a built-in "Share" button. When you hit that button, you decide if you want to share it in your wall, in a message, or any other place. This is sharing: you share something you like with other people, and the name of the photographer will follow the picture. 

This is something we encourage you to do: it helps us reach more people, and hopefully more people will be interested in what we do. In my case, the goal of this blog is to go through the nuts and bolts of northern light photography (are you missing any information? Please, let me know!), others want to have publicity for their business, and others sell prints of the photo you are seeing. 

So share and comment if you like a photo, that means a lot to us.

Another option is if you download the photo, then upload it to your profile. Here you will be in a tricky position: if you upload it and give credit to the photographer, that is still sharing, but if you upload it and do not tell that you are NOT the photographer, then you are using the photo inappropriately. 

What is "stealing"?

Stealing is inappropriately taking something that does not belong to you. In our case, when you upload someone else's photo and you do not say who was the photographer, you are doing it wrong: no, you will not get a SWAT team storming your house, and nobody will sue you if you just post a photo. The real problem comes when you sell the photo, or use it as a business presentation ("See what photo I took last night, join a tour with me" -but the photo was taken last week, and it was not him taking the photo-). A clear case of stealing is here, go and read!!

If you remove the signature from the photo (which is there not to annoy our friends, but to deter robbers), or you upload it as yours, or you use it for promoting your business, then that is called stealing. Even if you do not make money out of it, you are unlawfully owning another persons's piece of work!

What if I want to share it in a social network, but you aren't there?

This happened to me some weeks ago: I am not on Instagram, and I got a message asking if they could share my photos there. Of course you can! Go share! Post them wherever you want, just remember to put "Photo by Northern light blog". If you feel like it, a link to the blog, or the facebook page: we will always appreciate that. 

In summary, you can print the photos, share them or upload them to your profile/website, as long as you say "this photo was taken by XXX".

Several of you have asked about this, I hope this helps clarifying how sharing and stealing work when it comes to photography. Do you have more questions? Drop me a line on my e-mail or on my facebook page!

ISO 3200, f=2.8, 4 seconds exposure

Finally, here you have my latest time-lapse project! Sit down, turn your volume up and feel the arctic coming to you!

I have included real time sequences in the video, and I have tried my best to make the time-lapse sequences as close to real time as possible. This has been a lot of work and my poor computer has almost died several times... 

Let me know your thoughts! Drop me a line on my e-mail or on my facebook page and I will gladly reply :)

Catching up

Dear friends,

I thought I had managed to automatize my posts in Facebook and the blog, and I have realized that all the posts were saved as drafts, so they were not published. Here I leave you the photos you have missed! The season has finished for us here in Tromsø. The last two photos here were taken on the 17th of April in Oldervik, a small village near the island, together with Photography by Terje Brannfjell. The feeling was very strange: temperatures were mild (almost warm!), there was sunset light for the whole night, and we knew that it was our last chance: luckily, the selfish lady came to give us a last dance! I will of course keep posting photos, but they will be from archive.
As always, enjoy and share if you like it!
I am now preparing a new post, what are you curious about? Let me know and I will try to help :)
Drop me a line on my e-mail or on my facebook page!

Tromsø at night

Tromsø is known for its increasing tourism for northern lights: any avid northern light addict comes to town to find the elusive green lady, and most of them succeed finding her. We always think that we need to get away from the city lights to enjoy her dance, to see her in all her magnificence.

But here is the truth: when she dances she does it as if nobody is looking! And you can look at her wherever you are, as long as she dances. We cannot always find the perfect location, find a dark place, and you are stranded in midtown...

Of course, you can dance together with her! So I did, while shooting this panorama. The challenge of shooting a panorama is to be quick enough as to get the northern light in frame before it moves too fast, while keeping everything in focus. The star shape in the street lights is due to a smaller aperture (higher f-number), which helps increasing the depth of field in the photo, but requires longer exposure times.
I shot 16 vertical shots at ISO 1000, f=7.1 and 10 seconds exposure time with a Canon EOS 6D and a canon 24mm f1.4 L lens

Let me know your opinion in a comment, e-mail or drop me a line on my facebook page!

16 vertical shots at ISO 1000, f=7.1 and 10 seconds exposure

The end of the road

When you are hunting northern lights, you always go to the limit, and in this case, to the end of the road. Finally the sun is coming to Tromsø, and soon we will start feeling warm during the day (if "warm" can be understood as "not totally freezing"). Ironically, the coldest days of the winter have not come yet, they will come together with the sun.

This specific night, the cold was very present all the time: the location is a valley inland in the Troms county, where we ended up being at -18ºC, with chilling cold wind. Although we were ready for the cold, we decided to wait into the car until some activity happened.

Yes, we went out to chase northern lights, and we decided to wait in the car until the selfish lady started showing up. Of course, as soon as she winked at us (with a glowing green in the sky), we jumped out of the car, all the gear ready and spots (and composition) planned previously. That way, we knew where to be and what to do.

This is something that has to be kept in mind: chasing the lights is not just a matter of warm clothes, hot coffee and a camera. It is about planning, and being ready for the shot. Choose your destination before you go, decide on a time, and try to keep your eyes wide open. Sometimes, the best spot for a photo is not the best spot to enjoy the night, and vice versa. Sometimes, there is a better spot on the way to your planned spot: try to plan for a bit of exploring time on your way to the destination, then you will always have the option to see what can you find around.

And always, always, enjoy what you do. With or without camera, she is always happy to say hi!

Let me know your opinion in a comment, e-mail or drop me a line in my facebook page!

ISO 2500, f=2.8, 6 seconds exposure time

Oimara

In the mainland area of Tromsø, in a calm beach where you can see the island, there is a boat. A boat with a story, a story with history.

The boat is not a boat anymore, but a shipweck: its name is "Oimara", a boat built in the early 1900's in Hull (England) as a coal transporting boat from Svalbard for a Russian shipping company. Towards the end of the first World War, the ship was used to transport refugees from Murmansk to Tromsø, saving plenty of lifes between 1918 and 1919.

Oimara had travelled in all kind of conditions, but somewhere between 1919 and 1927, it hit ground in Tomasjordnes (Tromsø), and was left there.

And it is still there

Nowadays, about 100 years later, the remains of the Oimara are still there. It has survived a long time, against all kinds of weather, and it has become a landmark in Tromsø. The beach around it has barbecue places and children play by the coast, although having a bath is only for the bravest!

When the tide is low, you can get into the wreck and see how little it is left from this landmark: algae have taken over the wood, sand is piling in the cracks, and cormorants have found a good place to sit and relax.

It is always a good idea to go there with some coal, make some delicious food and enjoy the view! 

This shot was taken from inside the boat during low tide, I hope you like it! The boat was illuminated by the full moon

Let me know your opinion in a comment, e-mail or drop me a line in my facebook page!

ISO 1000, f=2.8, 10 seconds exposure time

Piggsteinen

The post today is about the past, and so is the photo. This photo, from the Balsfjord piggstein (the Name Stone), was taken last year in a tour with a good friend of mine. 

We departed from Tromsø towards Skibotn, where we expected to have a small window with clear skies, but we had to stop on the road: the sky was becoming green! We both had been thinking about this shot, and how to take it, for some time. That night was THE night!

The stone is especial because all the paintings it has: it is a tradition to write your name there: if you get close enough to the stone, you will see several layers of spray painting. Definitely worth a look during daytime!

For the non-techy people, maybe you want to scroll down to see the photo... now it is time to be technical!

Our plan was to shoot the stone from a very close perspective, and from a low point of view, so the stone itself would be the main subject. We stopped the car in a safe place (safety first!), and walked close to the stone. 

Since we were two people trying to get a similar shot, we had to take turns and be nice to each other. Independently of your shooting mood, whether you are a lonely hunter or a pack-hunter, we always have to be respectful to each other: is YOUR magic shot more important than HIS/HER magic shot? 

My opinion is simple: No, your magic shot is as important as any other person's magic shot. During my nights out, I have experienced everything: from random people ruining my shots to totally stealthy photographers that I did not notice at all. And this happens not only with strangers, but with friends: luckily, we can just talk to people and find a way to do things without disturbing each other.

The first and most important rule when you aren't alone: Be careful with your headlamp! 

Second rule: Be careful with your headlamp!

Third rule: Avoid walking into other people's frames

Fourth rule: Talk to each other. This will help to avoid conflicts.

All in all, we both had a challenge in our hands: How to take the photo you want, in the setup you want, before the northern light fades away, and be as quick as possible?

First, you need to have an idea in mind. There are lucky shots that just happen, but it usually takes some thought to get a proper framing, foreground and background. 

Think of your composition:

What is the main subject? The northern light or, in this case, the stone?

What composition rule will you follow? Rule of thirds, leading lines, none at all...

Think of the settings:

Do you want to illuminate the stone (as I did here with the boat), or is there enough light coming from the moon?

How is the northern light? Is it a green cloud, or does it show curtain shapes? Do you want to freeze the shape? 

In this case, my composition was focused mainly on the stone itself, having the northern light as a background element. We had enough moonlight, so I decided to use the natural light to illuminate the stone. Finally, I had a small birch tree on the corner, and I decided to include it to add a third element into the composition.

As for the camera settings, the northern light was a really slow-moving one, so I focused on exposing the stone properly, although I knew that I would not have curtain shapes on the picture. 

Had I wished for curtain shapes, I would have needed to increase the ISO settings in order to reduce the exposure time. 

The northern light faded out very quickly, so we were lucky to have a plan in mind. If not, we would have been shooting and hoping for the best, while competing with each other on the potential spots.

In summary, think twice, shoot once!

Let me know your opinion in a comment, e-mail or drop me a line in my facebook page!

ISO 1600, f=2.8, 25 seconds exposure

Green coast, northern lights from Tromsø island

With the autumn equinox, areas above the Polar Arctic Circle start getting ready for the polar night. Up in northern Norway, there is a really cool tradition, where they make cream-filled buns with a chocolate frosting, called Mørketidsboller (dark period buns).

Mørketid is more than the polar night, you can feel it in the air. People start wearing down jackets already, although we are still above freezing temperatures, the smell of the chimneys fill the streets in the evenings, and we start getting into the race towards the darkness. Some of us spend our summer longing for the polar night, because for us is not the "dark period". Just the opposite, it is the "light period", where we can get our northern lights dose.

There is a family of aurora chasers called Aurora Addicts Anonymous (read their blog and follow their facebook page, they are great!) who, in my opinion, hit the nail with that name. We are just aurora addicts, warm summers and sunny beaches are nothing compared to the northern lights!
And also, we are addicts to the rest of the people: I have found myself asking over the phone:

 "Do you have any green? Should I go to your place?" 

Yes. As bad as it sounds, I have said it several times. I once got very weird looks from people around, as I was in a bus, on a Saturday night, going towards the city center (where I was going to meet other aurora addicts), but it took me some time to realize why was that old lady on the corner looking at me as if I was doing something wrong. 

Of course, the equinox is a good excuse to get out and photograph (any excuse is good, but we have to find a reason to have sleepless nights and then go to our normal jobs...), and last night it payed off. We were heading towards Kvaløya, the island to the west of Tromsø, to escape from the light pollution and have a clear view towards the open sea. Sadly, the bridge was under construction, and after a very (very, very) long wait, we decided to stay into the island and try to find something interesting to photograph.

We knew that light pollution would be there all the time, and we would have to cope with it, but it payed off. The show was great, and got some nice shots. Due to the challenge of the light pollution, I had to play with composition, find interesting foregrounds, and this photo is the result.

I shot a square composition, what do you think about it? Let me know in a comment, e-mail or drop me a line in my facebook page!

ISO 1250, f=2.8, 5 seconds exposure

Green angels

Last night was an amazing night: with a solar storm directed towards the Earth, activity building up in the sky...

But let's take it from the beginning: Yesterday was a cloudy day in Tromsø. Thick, grey clouds, rain showers, strong wind... so it looked far from promising. Meanwhile, every northern light website and facebook groups were building up the expectations towards the night, and I talked to some aurora junkies about their plans for the night.

"Maybe I will stay at home"

That was the main thought: although the activity was looking great, weather was very discouraging. And we are still warming up, not totally crazy yet about every green hint in the sky. 

Suddenly, the skies started clearing up, and we all got rid of our mental rust, got our equipment and headed out to get what looked like the best show ever. The Aurora Ovation showed extremely high energy values, up to 95GW (we could say that 1-10 is low, 10-20 mid, 20-30 mid-high and above 30 is just high. More than 50GW is just very strong).

On the way to a good photo spot, we just saw cars parked in all sort of places: luckily, we all try to respect each other (although we sometimes have worse experiences), and everyone could find a good spot. For about an hour, the show was amazing: non-stop crowns and curtains, in all shapes and colors, and the sky had a constant green haze, telling us not to leave. 

The main show was over by about 23:30, so we went back home to enjoy the second part of the northern light shooting: sorting out the pictures! This shot is just but one of the hundreds I will have to sort... as everyone else that was out last night!

ISO 2500, F=2.8, 3.2 seconds exposure time

You can also like my facebook page or send me an e-mail if you have any questions!

Endelig nordlys!

...or in English: northern lights, finally!

The season has officially started with very good shows already, we hope that this will only be the beginning.

Due to my day job, I have been lucky enough to be in perfect locations for northern light shooting, but unlucky enough to have clouds all around me. However, I managed to get some decent shots in a small window of time where skies cleared up.

This is just the beginning, and I am already working on some video sequences, stay tuned!

This photo was shot in Hestdalen, a small valley up in the tundra in the Varanger Peninsula. This area is blessed with breathtaking sceneries on the coast, an immense national park (Varangerhalvøya nasjonalpark) and incredible salmon fishing rivers.

Not only that, but the wildlife around is just incredible: reindeer (caribou), moose, ptarmigans, buzzards, skuas... all you can imagine!

I have spent the last few summers doing my job as a biologist in this peninsula, and I cannot stress it enough: if you ever go to the north cape, do take a couple of extra days and drive around, get in touch with the locals, and enjoy the unique scenery of this area! Their official tourist website is not very updated, but they show just enough to want to be there: http://www.varanger.com/index.php?lang=eng

Bring binoculars (and a warm jacket!): if you want to be in a remote, solitary place to relax and enjoy yourself and your family, then northern Norway (and especially Varanger) is your perfect destination!

You can also like my facebook page or send me an e-mail if you have any questions!

ISO 1000, 4", f=2.8
Do you also see a dragon here?

The ghost of seasons past

There are some places in the US that are already reporting northern light sightings. For the ones living in Tromsø, we still have to wait for some more time for the shy lady to show up.

But we should start warming up, getting all the gear up and running, and be ready to spend restless nights again!

This photo is an example of a typical issue when shooting long exposure: once you find a nice place, nice landscape, and the selfish lady decides to dance, you think everything is fine. But sadly, there are plenty of problems happening constantly. This is one of the shots that ruined a long time-lapse sequence I was working on: I was totally alone, all my gear ready, and as soon as the northern light started, a couple of rental cars with tourists appeared out of the blue, and walked all the way to my spot.

WHY do tourists gather around someone who is obviously taking photos?

That question bugged me for a while, and since they had already ruined the sequence (more on that in a minute), I decided to ask them why did they come to the spot where I was, since there was plenty of coastline to enjoy exactly the same experience. The answer they gave me was extremely obvious:

We saw a small blinking light from your camera, and we thought that you knew what you were doing

This answer left me speechless. They thought that since I had taken a not-too-obvious place to see the lights, I should be experienced. The reality is that I wanted to be alone, to avoid unexpected people bumping into my photographs. And that is what most of night-shooters want: either being alone, or with fellow photographers who will know how to behave around the cameras.

An unexpected visit. ISO 1600, f=2.8, 15 seconds exposure time

Please note that there is no "magic spot", nor there is any ownership of spots: sometimes you know where you want to go, what foreground you want to have, and what direction you will shoot, and sometimes you just stop in a place that looks good enough.

There are several photographers that feel rights over some places for night photography, but as long as you are respectful to each other, we can all enjoy our experience!

Why was my sequence ruined?

After a short chat with the tourists, I told them that my sequence had been ruined by them, and since they were planning to stay in Tromsø for the next days, I adviced them to be careful when they were scouting for a location.
The main reasons that ruined my shots were:
1- Six people, walking up and down a hill with both headlamps and torches, pointing everywhere, hitting either my foreground or my camera (when they got close enough), so several shots got either overexposed, or got light streaks in the shot.

2- When I told them that I was shooting and to please stand out of the camera, they approached me from the front of the camera (asking to see shots), blocking several shots until they understood that I was still shooting.
              *At the same time, they actually moved my camera to see my shots, while I was shooting.

3- They liked the spot I was standing in, so they spent the next 10 minutes preparing their gear while illuminating everything around, walking back and forth in front of my camera, and, although this is not a photographic issue, being loud and noisy.

Are there guidelines we could establish?

Definitely. We are talking about night photography, so we need to keep the darkness (avoid headlamps pointing towards cameras), stay away from other people  (usually a few meters will be enough), and respect each other.

If we don't follow some common sense rules, more shots will look like this ghost.