How to capture the magical Northern Lights in outstanding photographs
Watching the Northern Lights dancing at the night sky is a magical experience - there is no doubt about that! But capturing this moment in an outstanding image is the cherry on the cake and probably the most satisfying feeling as landscape photographer!
You might already know that I live in Swedish Lapland during this winter, far above the Arctic Circle. And I got a lot of questions about how to capture the Northern Lights in the best way. This is I wrote this short guide that should help you to create magical travel memories with the most incredible phenomenon our earth has to offer.
1. Destination - travel north, no, further north
Let’s face it: the further north you travel, the more likely it is that you will see Northern Lights since the strongest activity usually happens in latitudes between 60° and 75° north. Travelling above the Arctic Circle (approx. 66° north) will give you the best chances to experience Northern Lights. It does sound a bit luring, but Abisko in Swedish Lapland is probably one of the best locations, if not THE best location since it is blessed with a high probability of clear skies throughout the year. It is also one of the best accessible locations compared to the northern parts of Canada or Russia for instance. Of course there are other great locations in Europe like Iceland or the northern parts Norway and Finland. However, those locations have a much lower probability of clear skies. Read this blog article to learn more about the famous “Blue Hole” of Abisko.
When you are at your travel destination, you should search for places far away from cities with as little light pollution as possible. The darker the place, the more visible the Northern Lights will be.
2. Season
For capturing Northern Lights you obviously need to have dark skies. Since the days can get pretty long in locations above the Arctic Circle, the season usually lasts from approx. October to March. There is of course the chance to see Northern Lights in September or April, but the longer the nighttime the higher the chances.
3. Gear
Honestly you don’t need the most expensive camera gear to be able to take stunning photos of Northern Lights. However, there are a few things that you should consider regarding the gear.
Camera: as long as you are able to set the focus of your camera to manual and the exposure time to around 15-20 seconds, you can use all types of camera, no matter if it’s a mirrorless, DSLR or bridge camera. Of course the image quality will increase with a better camera, but even if you have a good phone camera, you will be able to photograph Northern Lights in a decent quality!
Lens: the lens choice is probably more important than the camera. I would recommend an ultra-wide, fast lens between 14mm and 18mm focal length (if full frame) with a minimum aperture as wide as possible (f/1.4 - f/2.8). The reason for the ultra-wide lens is that we want to capture as much of the sky as possible. And due to the fact that we photograph during night, we want to be able to capture as much light as possible with a wide aperture (= low f-stop number). If you think about buying an ultra-wide lens and looking for a budget solution, I can recommend Samyang lenses. Those lenses are known to have a very good price-performance ratio. Since I am Canon user, I personally use the Canon RF 15-35mm with f/2.8 and I am extremely happy with image quality and light sensitivity.
Tripod: the last item on your gear list should be a tripod. When photographing Northern Lights, we are shooting long exposures with shutter speeds of a couple of seconds, which means you will not be able to shoot handheld. That’s why you need to mount your camera on a tripod while shooting. When it comes to tripods, there is a wide range of well-known brands out there. I can highly recommend Manfrotto tripods. From my experience, they are the most light-weight and at the same time stable tripods on the market.
4. Camera settings
There are a few settings that you should consider when shooting Northern Lights with a digital camera.
Focus: the focus of the camera and lens should be set to “manual” since it is too dark for the camera to detect any subject. You should then either focus on infinity if your lens allows or on a bright star.
Shooting mode: you should use the manual mode to able to adjust all settings separately,
ISO: the ISO determines how sensitive the sensor in the camera is to light. The higher the ISO, the shorter you can set the exposure time. The downside of a very high ISO is that the images will get grainy and lose quality. Depending on the quality of your gear and the moonlight, the ISO should be set to a value between 800 and 6400 (based on my experience).
Aperture: the aperture should always be set to the minimum possible f-stop number (e.g. f/1.4 or f/2.8) to capture as much light as possible.
Exposure time: the exposure time is something I would call artistic freedom and that you can play around with. If the Northern Lights are bright and move fast, I would recommend to use a rather short exposure time of 4 to 6 seconds (increase ISO accordingly so the photos don’t get to dark). In that case, you will still be able to see texture in the lights. If the Northern Lights are weak, you can use a longer exposure time of 10 to 20 seconds in to order to capture the slow movements.
These settings are all just recommendations based on my experience (and taste), but feel free to play around to find your own style.
5. Composition
As with all other fields within Landscape Photography, composition is key when photographing Northern Lights. Taking a photo of Northern Lights dancing in the sky is nice - if you want to create an outstanding photo though, you should include an interesting foreground in your composition. The photo will tell a much more powerful story!
This photo here was captured at the coastline of Andøya in Northern Norway. The beach was completely covered in ice and I found that rock in the foreground that had a similiar shape than the island out in the ocean. The whole scenery looks much more dramatic and atmospheric than if I would have only captured the lights in the sky. Won’t you agree?
