Photographing the Aurora Borealis

Have you ever thought of visiting either the Arctic or Antarctic Circles to photograph the Aurora Borealis (or the Aurora Australis)? Do you think you can use your well-honed night photography to get the exposure right? It turns out that it's not that simple. The aurora are continually moving, and extending the length of your exposure only makes the detail in the aurora disappear. Your best bet is to learn some tricks from an expert.

(Photo by Mark Dubovoy)

In a recent post on Michael Reichmann's Luminous Landscape, Mark Dubovoy discusses his tricks Photographing the Aurora Borealis. In an earlier post, Reichmann also published a more comprehensive article by Ben Hattenbach and Henry Throop titled Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora. Both are worthwhile reading.

If you're going to hassle with the long plane flights and endless hours in the cold, you might as well read the tricks before you go up (or down) there.