Catching the Edge of the Aurora Borealis

[JSBach1801]

First, let me give a HUGE shoutout to @JayTee! I had no idea that there was a possibility of an Aurora, but he clandestinely let me know. I couldn't see anything from my apartment, so I grabbed my camera case (always ready to go!) and headed to a semi-dark site. Still couldn't see much with the naked eye, but the camera sees all. Didn't really have much structure to it, more just a faint glow, but it was my first aurora ever (grew up in Texas), so I was thrilled!

I took a bunch of pictures, but this was my best result. It is a six frame pano, merged in Photoshop and color corrected almost entirely with the Camera Raw filter. I think it turned out fantastic, and I'm really happy with it! For the best view, click on the pop-out option.

Sony a7IV, Canon 50mm f/1.8, 2500 ISO, 6 second exposures

There were quite a few other people out taking pictures too. Some of them had some pretty high dollar cameras, but no idea how to use them. I spent about twenty minutes helping one group adjust the settings on their Canon camera. They didn't even know how to adjust the shutter speed,

[bobharmony]

That is a beauty, Lyle. Congrats on your first aurora! Of course with best chance for viewing in New England in q United a while, it figures I'm sitting in Central Florida ATM.

BOB

[Juno16]

That’s a beautiful image Lyle!

Great effort in get out there and capturing the scene. It was well worth the effort!

[messier 111]

very very nice , thx .

[JayTee]

WOW Lyle,

That is the result I dreamed of imaging but was completely clouded out. I nearly had tears from disappointment that I could not image what you so beautifully accomplished.

Thank you for sharing.

This real-time forecast is what drove me to contact Lyle. I have never been in the red before. This is a screenshot from Aurora Pro on Android.

[JSBach1801]

WOW Lyle,

That is the result I dreamed of imaging but was completely clouded. I nearly had tears from disappointment that I could not image what you so beautifully accomplished.

Thank you for sharing.

This real-time forecast is what drove me to contact Lyle. I have never been in the red before. This is a screenshot from Aurora Pro on Android.

I owe you one, JT.

[JSBach1801]

A couple of single frame follow ups that were kind of cool. The streak of light across the bridge was a car passing while the image was taking.

[JayTee]

Hi Lyle,

Some tips about wide-field nighttime imaging that might help. Because your Sony DSLR has a full-frame sensor, some basic rules apply.
1) You can use the rule of 500 for determining how long (approximately) your unguided images can be before star trailing becomes apparent. The rule basically states that you take the FL of the lens you're using and divide that into 500 (use 300 for an APS-C sensor). In your case that was a 50mm lens, so 500 divided by 50 = 10 seconds of exposure time.
2) With the max calculated exposure time you can now decide where to put your ISO setting. Although the Sony A7 IV has a very good low noise sensor at higher ISO settings, you still get a dynamic range increase with each successive lower ISO setting you choose.
3) This is just knowledge (stuff) you mess around with to determine what works best for you.

Hope this helps.

[JSBach1801]

Hi Lyle,

Some tips about wide-field nighttime imaging that might help. Because your Sony DSLR has a full-frame sensor, some basic rules apply.
1) You can use the rule of 500 for determining how long (approximately) your unguided images can be before star trailing becomes apparent. The rule basically states that you take the FL of the lens you're using and divide that into 500 (use 300 for an APS-C sensor). In your case that was a 50mm lens, so 500 divided by 50 = 10 seconds of exposure time.
2) With the max calculated exposure time you can now decide where to put your ISO setting. Although the Sony A7 IV has a very good low noise sensor at higher ISO settings, you still get a dynamic range increase with each successive lower ISO setting you choose.
3) This is just knowledge (stuff) you mess around with to determine what works best for you.

Hope this helps.

JT, in order to intentionally capture the car's headlights streaking across the whole frame, I increased the exposure time on purpose. I knew it would create some modest star trails, but that was an understood trade off to get the shot I wanted.

For the other frames where no cars were crossing, my exposure times were set at what I considered the best balance to minimize star trailing and to minimize noise. I took dozens of shots in the field, not just the ones shown here, testing and experimenting.

The results you see are intentional, and what I wanted.

[JayTee]

The results you see are intentional, and what I wanted.

Very cool and nice work! That is exactly how I proceed. Although, I'm willing to accept mild star trailing just to get those last few photons.

[Lady Fraktor]

A great job Lyle, outstanding images!

[Makuser]

Hi Lyle. A very nice gallery of your Aurora Borealis images. Wonderful framing and lots of foreground details as well as the beautiful celery green color aurora display. Thanks for sharing these captures with us Lyle and and keep up the great imaging work.