Iceland / Northern lights / Landscape tips

Adam

Adam

Adam

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I'm going to Iceland on Friday for the weekend and have booked the Superjeep northern lights tour. I know we will be lucky to see them but I'd like to prepare myself as much as posisble.

I have a Sony A6000, Sigma 19mm 2.8, Manfrotto befree tripod plus a remote shutter.

From some research I'll need to keep the lens wide open, with a shutter speed of around 30 seconds in some case and a high ISO (auto or should I select this manually?). The Sigma 19mm lens should arrive today so I'll have a play with focusing it before I go.

I feel like I have the right equipment but have very little experience/practice actually using it. Any tips most appreciated. My aim (if everything falls in to place) is to have a nice picture I blow up on a canvas in my office.
 
Honestly it varies a lot. You may get NL activity but its not very strong so you need a high ISO and vice versa. When we were there we were getting VERY strong NL activity and were dropping down to 6s exposures with ISO400 and getting plenty of action.

What I would recommend reading up on is a link which was posted here recently. About capturing stars without the motion blur and try to follow that for good star exposure and definition, coupled with decent NL light. That's how I would go about it if I were to go back :)

EDIT: This rule http://petapixel.com/2015/01/06/avoid-star-trails-following-500-rule/
 
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I think you'll want to avoid the really long exposures if you get a strong enough light, as otherwise you miss out on the wonderful shapes and just end up with a blur of colour. When we were there a couple of years ago we drove up the side of nearby mountain and stood there for a couple of hours freezing for absolutely nothing. Came back down, went to a bar, got boozed up, walked out and halfway back to the hotel bang - the sky went green!
 
The_Abyss said:
I think you'll want to avoid the really long exposures if you get a strong enough light, as otherwise you miss out on the wonderful shapes and just end up with a blur of colour. When we were there a couple of years ago we drove up the side of nearby mountain and stood there for a couple of hours freezing for absolutely nothing. Came back down, went to a bar, got boozed up, walked out and halfway back to the hotel bang - the sky went green!
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Yes it can literally just "pop" right in front of you can't it?

There are some websites which help track the activity which is good if you're hunting for them specifically :)
 
We used this website during our stay:

http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/

It gives you the next three days and is updated regularly it also includes cloud cover which is a key piece of information as you need clear skies!

Other than that you seem pretty well covered, tripod shutter release, wide angle fast lens etc. I started with f2.8 20s shutter and iso 3200 and looked to reduce setting from there, don't forget to look up from the camera occasionally and enjoy the view!

I wouldn't recommend a northern lights tour if you have a higher car as you can just go where you want and sop when you like that way and the tours rely on the same information that you can get from the web.

Good luck for your stay and don't forget Iceland has loads to offer other than the northern lights.


Northern Lights over Iceland by Alex Booth, on Flickr


Northern Lights, Iceland 2 by Alex Booth, on Flickr
 
Bantu said:
Check out the official forecast here:
http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/

Very jealous, we were there in september and had some incredible light shows. Will never forget it. I went with wide angle lens, high iso, 1s - 6s exposure depending on how much light we had.

good luck!
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Yes I checked that website. Today looks a great day for seeing the nothern nights and it starts to decrease as the week goes on!
 
Adam said:
Yes I checked that website. Today looks a great day for seeing the nothern nights and it starts to decrease as the week goes on!
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Todays cloud cover looks awful so while the lights maybe fantastic you would be lucky to catch a glimpse!

We found the forecast changed often so it's worth checking regularly while you are there, our guest house owners used to tell us all about it every day and one came and made us coffee while we watched the show from the patio.
 
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