D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

Need some "real time" input on how to photo Northern Lights. Have read some online topics, but would like some input from those of you who have actually done it. We will spend 2 nights in Fairbanks AK on 9/14 and 9/15 as part of a do your own Princess Cruise. We will be at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks. Doubt we will be "out of the city lights" there, but would like to try, if we are lucky. The full moon in is on 9/8.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Good luck! September is often cloudy with rain in Fairbanks, so it might happen that you'll see nothing... But otherwise, September is a good chance.

This is all nightowl stuff too. Midnight to 4 AM.

You really do need to get away from the city lights, and it isn't that hard to do either. Driving towards Nenana on the Parks Highway is one possibility. Going out Goldstream Road to Murphy Dome Road is another. North of town you can take either turn at Fox and get good shots. South on the Richardson is a long ways to go to get a clear shot. (Get a map and look up all these places.)

Composing shots of the Aurora catch a lot of people by surprise. It isn't the Aurora you'll be concerned with so much as what else shows up. Nothing at all, or something not attractive, and usually it's a bummer. Buildings need to be something special, rustic looking or whatever. Trees are nice, power lines are not. Mountains are great, highways are not. (That's all opinion...)

Use a decent wide ange lens. You do NOT need a fast lens and you do NOT want to shoot wide open. Even f/8 can work! The shutter speed changes what you get, depending on the display. If it is moving fast, use a faster shutter speed or it will be blurred into just one big blob. 5 seconds is fast for Aurora, 15 seconds is getting slow. By 20 to 30 seconds the star trails start getting elongate, which normally does not help. Stick with an ISO that's pretty low, though the upper limit depends on the camera.

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

All I have is a Tamron 18-250, the kit lens that came with the Canon XTI and a macro lens. Also read to use manual focus.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Try the Tamron at just back from maximum wide angle, and stop it down maybe 1/2 stop. If things are bright enough, stop down 1 stop.

I should have said something about focusing. At very wide angles, even wide open, you get a huge amount of depth of field if you focus out at any significant distance. So the ideal would be to look up what the hyperfocal distance is at the focal length and fstop being used, and focus at that point.

Hyperfocal distance is where the far end of the DOF is just at infinity, so the range of "in focus" is the maximum possible that still includes infinity. With a wide angle lens, even at wide apertures, the DOF is huge. With a 20mm lens at f/4 you can focus at 17 feet, and everything from 8 feet in front of you all the way to infinity will be in focus. At f/5.6 that would be focusing at 12 feet, and then it's from 7 feet on out. At f/8 focus a 9 feet and get everything from 6 feet to infinity.

If there is nothing within 50 or 100 feet in front of you of interest, just focus on the closest thing that is interesting, and rest assured you'll still be in focus all the way to infinity.

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

Being as I am a newbie, what does "just back from maximum wide angle" mean?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Crank the zoom all the way in to 18mm, and then go back just a little.

The same with the aperture. Set it as wide as it will go, and then stop it down at least 1/2 fstop, maybe more.

The reason for doing that is virtually all lenses are at their worst wide open and at either end of the zoom range. That's probably more true with less expensive lenses, such at the kit lenses that come with cameras.

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

Thanks. One more question: Should the UV Filter be removed?
To bad we aren't going to be in Barrow! This is our first visit to AK and are really looking forward to it.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The UV filter is just about useless. It might potect the lens from salt spray at a beach... But a digital camera is not sensitive to UV light.

Barrow would be a great trip! For Northern Lights, Fairbanks is better only because we are on the coast and get far more cloudy days than Fairbanks. September just happens to be the rainy season in Fairbanks. Even then, they get more clear skies than Barrow does at that time of year.

Otherwise, Fairbanks is an interesting place to visit, and your entire tour will be. Except for the fact that you are going to see the part of Alaska that is most similar to the Lower-48. An 800 mile loop anywhere down south is just about the same as the drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks to Tok to Anchorage. Wonderful scenery.

Barrow is not like anything anywhere in the Lower-48! Different world. And for us, the Northern Lights are almost always in the south west!

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

Since this is our maiden voyage - both to AK and a cruise, we chose the "on your own" cruise. Will land in Fairbanks, have a full next day and then go to Denali Lodge. Will only have a short time there and then to Whittier to board ship for the inside passage. Have friends in Anchorage and will visit them next year to really see Denali and southern points. He retired from being a guide with Princess, so will have excellent mini tours. Thanks again for all your help.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Next year... See the friends in Anchorage, visit Denali, and then hop a flight to Barrow for 3 or 4 days. You won't be sorry!

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

Sounds good. Would love to meet you! And the next time you are in MT, stop by for a visit - we are just south of Missoula, on the Lewis and Clark trail and where Montana began.

stableduck Loc: Chugiak, Alaska

yes, remove the filters. they can cause reflections in the lens giving strange rings in your image. I had this happen a few times and couldn't figure out where the rings came from.

Jackdoor Loc: Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

If the air is clear enough, and you can keep the moon out of the frame, all should be well if the aurora actually turns up. Distant lights aren't a problem. Wide angle as far as the lens will allow with decent image quality. Auto focus on a distant light, then switch to manual & make sure you don't move anything. What you WILL need is a tripod.
This shot was taken in northern Sweden last January. Full moon above and behind lighting the snow on a frozen river, small town about half a mile away.

10 sec at f /5.6, ISO 640 14mm but cropped

(Download)

Jackdoor Loc: Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

If the air is clear enough, and you can keep the moon out of the frame, all should be well if the aurora actually turns up. Distant lights aren't a problem. Wide angle as far as the lens will allow with decent image quality. Auto focus on a distant light, then switch to manual & make sure you don't move anything. What you WILL need is a tripod.
This shot was taken in northern Sweden last January. Full moon above and behind lighting the snow on a frozen river, small town about half a mile away.

10 sec at f /5.6, ISO 640 14mm but cropped

(Download)

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

On a side note, head up to the university of Alaska and check out the museum...they also have one of the vest views of the area, since they are so high up. If you're into knitting, be sure to pick up some quviet yarn (there's an awesome yarn store right down the street from the university).