Northern Lights

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JaniceL

Super Moderator
Staff member
Earlier I posted a thread about my drive around the Mount Hood Loop on Saturday July 15th. In it I mentioned that had I hung around I might have caught the Northern Lights. I thought you might want to see them. With Gary Randall's permission here are some shots taken with Mount Hood in the background.

White River July 11
7574090874_1d081a8aa5_b.jpg

Aurora by Gary Randall, on Flickr

Trillium Lake July 15th.
7559607086_35f5feba77_b.jpg

Aurora Over Mount Hood by Gary Randall, on Flickr


Dates and locations edited from my original post.
 
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fiznatty

Member
Lovely shots. Congrats to Gary. I've seen plenty of images of them from the midwest recently, but these are the first from out here. Love that purple.

Max
 

BobH

Administrator
Staff member
Great photos, thanks to Gary for allowing you to share and thanks to you for posting.

By the way, I really enjoy his work. In fact, he's so talented that I'm willing to offer him a complimentary membership in the site. Tell him to stop by and sign up when he gets the chance. :)

Seriously, I'd really like to have him posting here, that would be excellent.
 

JaniceL

Super Moderator
Staff member
I made a couple edits, he pointed out that I had incorrect information.

I'll extend your generous invitation ;)
 

Gary Randall

New Member
Aurora Settings

I'd say there was a lot more than luck involved. Those are stunning images! Care to share any setting details for those of us not quite so, err, lucky?

Thank you Steve. I'm always glad to share any info concerning my work. :)

My approach for those shots concerned getting the shot at the lowest iso to get a 30 second exposure. This to limit the noise in the shot for printing purposes. Thus the reason for such a wide aperture setting. My concern had nothing to do with the depth of focus as I was dealing with one focal plane on the horizon. The exif for the White River shots are:

Camera - Nikon D3
Lens - Nikon 20mm f/2.8
Exposure - 30
Aperture - f/2.8
Focal Length - 20 mm
ISO Speed - 2500

Please let me know if you have anymore questions. :) Thanks!
 
Thanks Gary!

How would it have looked, do you suppose, had you used a minute expsoure and a lower ISO (say in the range of my equipment - 1000 or less)?
 

fiznatty

Member
At that long of a shutter speed you'd likely get some blurred stars, the beginning of a star trail shot essentially. Like Gary, I tried to keep my shutter speed to 25-30 second max when shooting auroras for this reason.

Max
 

Shadow

New Member
It is just now starting to get dark enough that we can see the lights up north here. I will try and get some images of them.
 
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