The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)
Well lets hope the site issues I have been having have been fazed out. Here is to hoping.
Last night I ended up on Kam Lake trying to shoot this ever illusive Aurora and so was local Facebook friend Maik and his wife. Got this shot of them taking photos of the aurora and the aurora itself.
But I still ain’t that good.
This was my second attempt here in Yellowknife, third attempt over all at photographing the Aurora. Ironically, I still this my first attempt was the best. Nonetheless I keep trying.
The lights were not very bright while I was out this evening (about 11:30pm). I’ve been told there normally at their best from 1am – 3am, but I just don’t have the dedication yet to stay awake or get up again to go out and shoot.
This is however one of the “better:” ones I got this evening:
I like the element of the houseboat in the photo, but I must admit to some Photoshop trickery.
There is no way I could have lit up the foreground while keeping the Northern Lights so bright, so what I did, is brighten the foreground myself. I used the quick-select tool, got all the foreground and then upped the exposure. Seemed to work, although you can tell it was processed by the amount of noise you can see.
Next time I go Aurora hunt I should try two things:
Well until next time, send me all your tips. I need all the help I can get.
Just another one to look at.
To date I have attempted to shoot the Aurora Borealis twice. The first time was in September in the Peace Region, just north of Fort St. John, and the second was just recently over the holidays in Yellowknife, on the Dettah Ice Road.
Both times I tried different things and got very different results. Ironically, I think my first attempt was better than my second. Lets take a look and compare.
ISO400, 11mm, f/8, 30 seconds
ISO200, 16mm, f/13, 70 seconds
The biggest thing you will notice is the shutter speed. The first time I left it open to the longest preset of 30 seconds, the second time I used the BULB setting and timed it to about 70 second.
I’m not sure why I tried 70 seconds on the second attempt. Partly I think it was because when I had first gone out the lights were not out as strong, but they did end up coming out. As I scoured Flickr afterwards I think the most common shutter speeds are 15 and 30 seconds. It makes sense as you can see above in my first attempt. The ISO is also a mystery to me. I’m afraid to go any higher that ISO640 in fear my photos will look graining. What I have noticed on Flickr, is that if you want the foreground to show use a higher ISO. If you want it to appear more of a silhouette use a lower ISO. I read that my Nikon D90 works best at ISO200 so I had it there for my second attempt.
What I am struggling with on some level is my cameras capabilities. I’m read over and over that it is not the gear you use, it is how you use it. I tend to disagree with this when it comes to the Aurora. Obviously camera that are better suited for low-lighting will shine through in quality. For the time being though I have the D90 and I’ll stick with it.
These are some of my lessons learned in the first two attempts with Aurora. Do you have any advise and do something that works for you?
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Click here to download or listen on an iOS Device
Karl Johnston first caught my attention with his amazing shots of the Aurora in the area of Fort Smith, NWT. Since then I have watch his career as a Photographer grow.
During our conversation Karl and I talked about how in the last couple years he was worked towards supporting himself a photographer and proper marketing. Even though it can be very difficult, Karl has set out to make sure he is selling his prints. His prints can be seen in Fort Smith, Yellowknife and more to come.
A recent project that Karl has been working on is combining the natural beauty of the Fort Smith, NWT area and the beauty of a human. Check out some his latest work on his website and hear more about Karl, the project, what inspires him and what is next in this episode.
Be sure to check out his website and like his page on Facebook.
Thanks for listening and don’t forget to Subscribe on iTunes or by Email here.
Don’t forget if you know someone doing something interesting (or another photographer or yourself) send me their info, I want to talk to them!
Well I finally did it, after living in the prime Aurora viewing city all my life, I finally got out and took a photo of them… while living 1000km south of that in Fort St. John. This was proabably one of the best displays of the lights the Peace Region has ever seen, ironically that would be consider an average show in the North.
While I was dancing around with the lights last night on the side of the highway by myself many memories came flooding back. I remember one paricularly of myself coming out of the Gerry Murphy Area in the dead of winter in Yellowknife and seeing the green AND red light dancing around.
It being the first time I had ever tried the capture the dancing beast I probably didn’t do all that I should. I quickly found, thanks to a friend, that I needed to lower my ISO as I was shooting at 1000. I brought it down to 400 and even found that was to high while processing the photos later.
I’m definitely no or (the King of the Aurora) but I happy with what I got.
ISO400, 11mm, f/8, 30.0secs