Aurora First Timer II: Return of Low Sky

[Low_Sky]

The auroras have been busy in Alaska, so I didn't have to wait long after becoming an aurora first timer to become an aurora second timer. I did better this time, I think. I still didn't get into the mountains until after dark, but I got focused and left it that way for the duration of the night. As the night went on, the auroras got brighter and my exposures got a lot shorter (I ended up at 6" by the time the clouds moved in and ended the fun).

As always, C&C is welcome, especially with regards to the processing on these. Thanks.

#1
t3i-6074 by Low_Sky, on Flickr
f/3.5, 30s, ISO 800

#2
t3i-6126 by Low_Sky, on Flickr
f/3.5, 8s, ISO 800

#3
t3i-6097 by Low_Sky, on Flickr
f/3.5, 6s, ISO 800

 

[John Hunt]

Nice job!

 

[smoke665]

Nice. Close call between 2 &3 but I think 3 won out as best of the set

 

[jsecordphoto]

Nice work! One thing to keep in mind when shooting aurora- keep an eye on your histogram. When it starts getting very active, it's easy to clip your green channel. Not sure if your camera has the option to show the RGB histogram, but if it does, keep an eye on the green channel. These look great, but I can see that it's close to clipping in a few shots.

Great first few attempts! I wish we had more active aurora around here

 

[Derrel]

Nice. Close call between 2 &3 but I think 3 won out as best of the set

I think so too, I like the third one most.

 

[Low_Sky]

Nice work! One thing to keep in mind when shooting aurora- keep an eye on your histogram. When it starts getting very active, it's easy to clip your green channel. Not sure if your camera has the option to show the RGB histogram, but if it does, keep an eye on the green channel. These look great, but I can see that it's close to clipping in a few shots.

Great first few attempts! I wish we had more active aurora around here

Great point, jsecordphoto. I don't check the histogram on every shot, but I do check it periodically (probably not as often as I should). The couple here that are close to clipping probably have more to do with the way I processed these in LR than the way they were exposed. I have been contemplating a switch to mirrorless, and have my eye on a Samyang 12mm f/2 lens that should help my aurora shots a lot.

 

[WesternGuy]

Very nice. I like the detail that you have captured in #3. I also like that you have managed to capture some of the "red" part of the Aurora in the first one.

WesternGuy