Northern Lights

[Alex_B]

Aurora Borealis - as spotted last week on September 11 at Lake Torneträsk close to the Swedish/Norwegian border in Lapland - some 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

It was extremely cold, my batteries were dying and I could hardly move my fingers after the first hour outside the sleeping bag. So please excuse that I totally messed up exposure on some!

This thread belongs to my Lapland series, with the following threads so far:
Reindeer-mania: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138573
Climbing Kebnekaise: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138703
Ladjuvaggi&Tarfala: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138716

1: Just after sunset, you can still see the red glow in the sky. Unfortunately this was my first shot that night and I totally underexposed, so I had to compensate later in processing.

2: Slightly better exposed, shortly afterwards.

3: They also come as stripes.

4: Detail

5: .. even more

6: .. always changing shape, coming and going ...

7: You can nicely see Ursa Major (the Big Bear) on this one and all following ones.

8: The darker it gets, the more stars you can see.

9: I spent almost the whole night outside

10: But I won't post all of the images I took that night.

 

[icassell]

Wow, Alex, these are gorgeous. I'm jealous -- I'd love to see them this well.

 

[Kalikala]

I've always wanted to see the northern lights! (In person You got some pretty nice pictures!

 

[Alex_B]

Well, these were long exposures, so you see more on the images than in reality in a way.

But this particular night was quite good. I had them on several nights, but mostly not as good as this one. Also, I might have missed some nights, hiding in my tent and sleeping bag to escape freezing to death

 

[Antarctican]

Oh Alex, these are marvelous!!! [The only time I have seen the green northern lights I was on a small ship and with the vibrations of the engine it was virtually impossible to get a good shot.]

Love how you can see the stars so clearly, and the reflection of the lights in the water. I'll be drooling over these shots for a long time to come. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Alex_B]

Yes, I was quite happy to finally get them. Shooting Northern Lights was one of the goals of this Lapland tour. And there were extremely clear nights where I out of boredom photographed stars, shooting stars, satellites and even my headlamp because I stayed awake, waiting, but no Northern Lights showed up

 

[Tangerini]

Those are beautiful! I especially like the reflection off of the lake(?) It adds an extra bit of drama.

 

[Alex_B]

Yes, it is a lake, but actually a smaller lake close to Torneträsk, not the large lake itself. Torneträsk is the largest mountain lake in Scandinavia and the waves on Torneträsk were to rough to give good reflections, so I chose this smaller water.

 

[Teknik]

Those are some nice shots i like the colors in them, my favorite is #2

 

[MissMia]

Gorgeous series Alex! What an adventure you had. Thank you for sharing the images with us.

 

[kundalini]

Awesome series Alex. Hard to pick a favorite, but I really like #2 & 3...... but then, there is the Ess shape in #6 and I think I see a Lowland Gorilla in #9 ( )

 

[icassell]

Awesome series Alex. Hard to pick a favorite, but I really like #2 & 3...... but then, there is the Ess shape in #6 and I think I see a Lowland Gorilla in #9 ( )

A lowland gorilla??????????? In Lapland??????????

 

[Alex_B]

A lowland gorilla??????????? In Lapland??????????

:lmao:, he is referring to another thread of mine, where I asked people to spot the imaginary beast in a rock formation

 

[DRATOM]

Very nice, I haven't seen these in years! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Smilemon]

I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. I see northern lights all the time and I can say that those are pretty spectacular. Picture #2 is my favorite. I can't wait to try some Aurora shots with my OM-1. Any tips on exposure?