# Northern lights - Amateur



## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

This is my second time catching auroras! Tips & Tricks are more than welcome!
Had trouble finding good foreground, but my main first goal was actually catch them on camera, next time I'll be going to the seaside and focus more on the foreground. I'm also looking forward to make panorama out of them.
I shot in FINE JPEG and with SMALL resolution 
I've been shooting in sRGB, is it bad?

CAMERA: Nikon D3200
ISO:3200
WB: AUTO
SHUTTER: 15-20 seconds
F-STOP: F/3.5-5.6
LENS: Tamron 18-200mm

Should I change WB in camera or should I do it in post-processing? And I've recently looked into using histogram...is it somehow helpful when shooting in dark?

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Noise reduction decreases quality quite a lot.


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## Fujidave (Nov 5, 2018)

Nice set of images, but it might be better to just show them instead of having the spoiler to click.


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## astroNikon (Nov 5, 2018)

Arx said:


> This is my second time catching auroras! Tips & Tricks are more than welcome!
> Had trouble finding good foreground, but my main first goal was actually catch them on camera, next time I'll be going to the seaside and focus more on the foreground. I'm also looking forward to make panorama out of them.
> I shot in FINE JPEG and with SMALL resolution
> I've been shooting in sRGB, is it bad?
> ...


Must be my browser.
This is all I see above .... nothing


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## Warhorse (Nov 5, 2018)

I have no answers for your questions, but I must say I like these pics a lot.


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## TreeofLifeStairs (Nov 5, 2018)

I see them. I can’t click them to make them bigger though. 

I think they look cool. 

The wb is something you can adjust in post. I wouldn’t worry about it so much while shooting. Especially a shot like this where there’s no real reference to what the colors should be (the stars might be the only way to tell). 

I don’t know if it’s possible to open up your aperture any more to be able to shorten your shutter speed. You might be able to get less movement from the Aurora.


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> Nice set of images, but it might be better to just show them instead of having the spoiler to click.


Thank you, removed spoilers aswell


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

astroNikon said:


> Arx said:
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> 
> > This is my second time catching auroras! Tips & Tricks are more than welcome!
> ...



Removed spoilers, maybe now you can see them?


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

Warhorse said:


> I have no answers for your questions, but I must say I like these pics a lot.


It's nothing special..It's the auroras itself that make everything look nice  Thank you!


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

TreeofLifeStairs said:


> I see them. I can’t click them to make them bigger though.
> 
> I think they look cool.
> 
> ...



That's informative, thank you! I just checked my camera and it can go down to F 3.5 with ISO 3200 and shutter 10-30 seconds. Yesterday when I was on shooting I thought I had my aperture as down as possible but I guess I was wrong.


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## astroNikon (Nov 5, 2018)

Arx said:


> astroNikon said:
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Yes,  very nice greens in the first image.  Good job on all of them.


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## astroNikon (Nov 5, 2018)

Arx said:


> TreeofLifeStairs said:
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> > I see them. I can’t click them to make them bigger though.
> ...


Your Tamron 18-200 will open up to f/3.5 at 18mm.  As you extend the range to 200 it gets to f/6.3 quite quickly.

I use a 18-35/3.5-4.5 also.  As the f/3.5 is faster @18mm than the more expensive 18-35/4 but much cheaper and lighter than the 18-35/2.8 lenses.  Sometimes fixed apertures such as f/4s are slower at certain focal lengths than variable aperture lenses and if you use it at wide angle all the time, you'll be slightly faster (and save a lot of money).


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

astroNikon said:


> Arx said:
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Then I believe at least 1 or 2 of the photos I posted here are with the aperture of F/ 3.5 because I mostly used 18mm length. First one is definitely not 18mm though.
Thank you!


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## Designer (Nov 5, 2018)

(disclaimer)  I have not attempted to photograph the aurora, but just from looking at your settings, I think if you try a longer shutter opening, and lower ISO setting, I think you will end up with less noise.  Just a thought.


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

Designer said:


> (disclaimer)  I have not attempted to photograph the aurora, but just from looking at your settings, I think if you try a longer shutter opening, and lower ISO setting, I think you will end up with less noise.  Just a thought.


What about the auroras movement?I'm trying to lower the shutter speed to get more detail in. I'll give it a try any way  Thank you!


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## astroNikon (Nov 5, 2018)

Arx said:


> astroNikon said:
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FYI, just because you are at 18mm does not mean you are at f/3.5
at 18mm you can select from f/3.5 up to f/22 (as an example)
at say 35mm your lens may allow you to use f/4 up to f/22
at 100mm your lens may allow you to use f/5.6 to f/22
at 200mm your lens would be from f/6.3 to f/22

Always check your aperture setting as with a variable aperture lens it may not be what you think it is.


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## Designer (Nov 5, 2018)

Arx said:


> What about the auroras movement?I'm trying to lower the shutter speed to get more detail in. I'll give it a try any way  Thank you!


Yes, I considered that, but even at 20 seconds, you're going to get motion blur, and any still photo will not convey the motion anyway.

The best way to capture the motion is to make a video.  I think it has been done, but I don't know what kind of camera was used.


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## Arx (Nov 5, 2018)

astroNikon said:


> Arx said:
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I'll keep in mind to check my aperture!


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## goooner (Nov 5, 2018)

Nice shots, 1st shot is F5.6, the other 2 are F5, according to exifviewer.


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## Jeff15 (Nov 5, 2018)

Nice shots.....


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## D7K (Nov 6, 2018)

Nice set, it's on my list of must shoots.  Having never shot it, I could only say that maybe you want to keep the SS around 12-15 seconds to prevent any blur of the stars (experiment as your camera maybe different, there's a number of websites that will help you calculate that).  Keep at f/3.5 if you can, You can always crop afterwards, also maybe take multiple shots or bracket and then you can stack them to help reduce noise as NR when used heavily does kill a lot of detail.  Happy shooting!


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## birdbonkers84 (Nov 8, 2018)

Shoot in RAW,
Shoot wide open i.e f/3.5
Start at 1600-3200 ISO,
Get photopills app helps you calculate the shutter speed based on your set up, or you could try doing it in your head, your choice.
Take around 10 consecutive images and stack them in Photoshop to reduce the noise (can easily show you or point you in the right direction).
If you are on a Mac then I would get the program Starry Landscape Stacker, great program for reducing noise etc; gutted it is only for the Mac.
Practice.

They look great btw


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## Arx (Nov 8, 2018)

D7K said:


> Nice set, it's on my list of must shoots.  Having never shot it, I could only say that maybe you want to keep the SS around 12-15 seconds to prevent any blur of the stars (experiment as your camera maybe different, there's a number of websites that will help you calculate that).  Keep at f/3.5 if you can, You can always crop afterwards, also maybe take multiple shots or bracket and then you can stack them to help reduce noise as NR when used heavily does kill a lot of detail.  Happy shooting!



Thank you, great information! The first time you capture auroras on your camera feels amazing...well at least for me it did! Good luck!


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## Arx (Nov 8, 2018)

birdbonkers84 said:


> Shoot in RAW,
> Shoot wide open i.e f/3.5
> Start at 1600-3200 ISO,
> Get photopills app helps you calculate the shutter speed based on your set up, or you could try doing it in your head, your choice.
> ...



Thank you! Great tips to follow. Although if I'm shooting the stars or auroras with Shutter Speed around 15 seconds, won't the stars/auroras move after I've completed 10 shots for bracketing?


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## birdbonkers84 (Nov 9, 2018)

Arx said:


> birdbonkers84 said:
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> > Shoot in RAW,
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Yes, but stacking your images in PS sorts that for you  That was my exact same response when I started stacking images.


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## Grandpa Ron (Dec 27, 2018)

Did you see the Aurora of just a gray cloud?

I have some nice aurora photos but they were only gray shapes to the naked eye.

It took 30 seconds at an ISO of 6400 to bring the color out.


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