More auroras in Missouri

LCLimages · Jun 23, 2015

Well despite the camera problems I now have thanks to this little adventure (posted about that in the Canon forum), here are the 2 shots I've edited so far. Thankfully the SD card had several good shots before the incident-that-kept-me-up-all-night.

This one has gone somewhat viral via ABN's facebook page and a couple news stations...

paigew · Jun 23, 2015

Wow my husband is from Missouri...I had no idea you could see the auroras from there! Beautiful. You are the second person I know who photographed them last night. Must have been beautiful!

tirediron · Jun 23, 2015

Nicely done.

oldhippy · Jun 23, 2015

Wow, impressive capture. On my bucket list. Ed

NancyMoranG · Jun 23, 2015

Wow! They are saying it could happen again tonight and it may come farther south tonight.
What settings are used for something like this?
I am Cape Cod, but internet sites say it may happen...

Derrel · Jun 23, 2015

Pretty cool! Yeah, I had absolutely no idea any auroras were ever visible from MIssouri. I guess it really is the Show Me state!

LCLimages · Jun 23, 2015

NancyMoranG said:
Wow! They are saying it could happen again tonight and it may come farther south tonight.
What settings are used for something like this?
I am Cape Cod, but internet sites say it may happen...

Well were cloudy tonight so I won't be out attempting anymore. I focused on the crescent moon then flipped to manual focus to lock that distance. Then pointed it at the horizon lol. I played with settings some, my ISO was 640-800, 10-13 second exposure, f/4. My trees aren't pin sharp but it was also breezy. In hindsight I could have raised my ISO & aperture but I guess old habits are hard to break... I learned to shoot on a Rebel that looked like crap over ISO 200 & I still find myself hesitating to raise it on the 6D even though it's more than capable.

Believe it or not, in the last 4 years I've witnessed & photographed the Aurora 3 times from my own backyard. It happens more than one would think, you just gotta know the nerdy space weather science part of it & also know what to look for when you go out. You don't just glance out the window & see a sky full of pink streaks, at least not this far south. Through experience I've learned you really don't want longer than a 15 sec exposure or you start to lose the definition of the individual light rays & get some pretty noticeable star trails.