Beginner Aurora Photography Tips

For most people, viewing the Aurora is a once in a lifetime, bucket list kind of trip. We here in the Yukon are fortunate enough to see them on a semi regular basis. For those of you who live south of the 60th parallel, its a rare treat to see the best show over Earth so you don’t want to waste time trying to figure out your camera while you miss the celestial phenomenon going on over your head. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your Aurora viewing tour:

What you need:

Stability!: Any image you capture of aurora while holding you camera in your hands is not going to be worthy of your bucket list experience. Some will try and balance their camera on a bench or prop it up with a rock but chances are, most surfaces will probably be covered in snow. You’re going to need a tripod. There are many types, the most basic being a gorilla pod style, they work great for phones paired with a phone holder tripod mount. Make sure that it can cope with the weight of your camera if you’re rocking a full frame DSLR though. You can buy a rigid style tripod for anywhere between $50 and a $1000. For our Aurora tours, portability is key. Consider weight and how small it packs down.

Camera: You don’t need the latest and greatest camera to capture a decent image of the aurora but it should at least have manual settings (sometimes called “pro” on smart phones. Obviously the better the quality of your camera/phone/lenses will have an impact on the outcome of your images.

Warm clothing: Even on our Aurora tours in August, the overnight temperatures can get a little chilly, if you’re doing one in mid winter, you can expect extremely cold temps, come prepared!

Spare batteries: Speaking of the cold, sub zero temperatures can severely limit your camera or phone battery capacity. If you can bring a spare battery or power bank, this should help you avoid disappointment.

Lenses: You can leave the mega zoom lens behind. Wide angle lenses can be great but often struggle to capture the available light. Especially on phones. Something in the 18-60mm range should suffice.

Enough with the gear, lets talk about how to set up your camera to get the best shot with the gear you have. We’re mainly focusing on shutter speed, ISO and focus. You’ll see a few screen shots as we go to see where you can adjust these settings. Although there are many phones and cameras, most will use the same terminology.

Quick tip: Use a 2-10 second timer so your camera has a chance to stop moving after you touch it, any movement on a long exposure image will leave it blurred.

Shutter speed: This setting, obviously changes the length of time your camera’s shutter stays open. The longer you leave it open, the more light will enter your camera. Leave it too long and the image may become over exposed and lose definition. If the Aurora is bright consider leaving the shutter open for 4-6 settings. If its faint you’re going to need to leave it longer, try 8-15 seconds. Anything over 30 seconds will start to leave star trails on your image, not enough to look cool, just enough to make the stars look blurred.

ISO: This setting also adjusts the amount of light that enters your camera but does not adjust the shutter speed. If the aurora has a lot of movement and you want a shorter shutter speed to capture the definition, consider increasing your ISO. Be careful though, too much ISO could leave you with a grainy or noisy image.

Focus: You will need to switch to manual focus (MF) and set it at the infinity or mountain symbol. Set the focus point too close and you will end up with a blurry image.

Wrap up:

These are just some very basic tips to help you at least get an idea of hat settings to adjust. There are many more that you could play with such as; aperture, EV, white balance but what we covered will set you on the right track.

Tours we offer:

We have a few different options for incredible aurora tours in Whitehorse. Fall offers amazing opportunities for aurora viewing by canoe in the Yukon, nothing beats floating on a silent lake with the Northern lights glowing around you. Winter and early spring brings ice to the lakes of the Yukon. We offer Whitehorse Fat bike Tours and Yukon Snowshoe tours at a pace that suits your group. Transportation for customers within city limits is provided.