Spiked Aurora
One of the most interesting feature of shooting Aurora is the ever changing and almost random pattern they form. Usually they form some kind of an arch over the sky. The shape of it depends on how high it is in the sky. If it is near the horizon the arch shape will be clearly visible. The higher up in the sky the Aurora then it looks less like an arch (because you are under it).

This night was different. There was not clear arch shape, the Aurora was everywhere in many forms.
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Samira Rezazadeh 10 months ago
woooWWW! Like a dream
samira alijani 1 year ago
amazing shot....great....i like it
fabrice silly 1 year ago
impressive shot !!
Amazing Shot, Beautiful!!!. Congratulations! :)
Dionys Moser 1 year ago
We are hunting the aurora in Nord Norway.
Always a fantstic time!
perfect photo!
Ben Goossens 1 year ago
The night in Iceland is wonderful... well done:-)
Harry Eggens 1 year ago
A great beauty and real joy to look at Örvar Atli.
Most wonderful scene which I so far only have seen twice in my life.

Best regards, Harry
Paula Graham 1 year ago
Interesting comments and a stunning Aurora Borealis photo
Erhan Dayi 1 year ago
Great image! Also thanks so much for the detailed information about this kind of night photography. My compliments.
Vincent Westberg 1 year ago
Great shot! Last night (2.3) was aurora night!
Any coments on your choice of equipment? I know a guy who uses Nikkor lenses on his Canon. Especially this legendary 14-24mm...
Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson  Thanks Vincent. I use the Nikkor 14-24mm because there isn´t really any Canon lens that can shoot very wide angles at large aperture like 2.8. This Nikkor outperforms the Canons by far. Since then I have learned that there is a Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens that is even better than the Nikkor plus it cost only 1/4th of the price.
martin zalba 1 year ago
fantastic sky!
Naysa Lu 1 year ago
like it so much, i've wanted to see aurora for a long time!!
Håkon Iversen 1 year ago
Awesome shot Örvar! Superbly balanced aurora shot! :-)
FrankBa 1 year ago
Tremendous work
Hope I can see that ... one day
Brin 1 year ago
Glæsileg mynd Örvar - Amazing shot!
Ludovit Sabo 1 year ago
nice photo, scene, moment ...
ibrahim canakci 1 year ago
Excellent
Ion Lacatus 1 year ago
Majestic ! I'm curious... how dynamic is the scenery... I mean how fast does it change ? For instance if you take this frame as reference for how long will it stay there? By the way, if it's not confidential what is the exposure time here ?
Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson  Well it would stay there for 1-2 minutes in this case. Some nights the Aurora is very static and stays at the same place for 10-30 minutes. This night it moved fast staying the same for only a minutes or two.

The exposure time is 60 seconds at f2.8 using ISO400 but the Aurora is exposed for about 20 seconds. I used a black card technique to block the sky for 40 seconds of the total exposure time.
Ion Lacatus  Thanks. So it's quite dynamic. I'm not familiar with the black card technique. I assume you look for a more even exposure (well lit sky vs. relatively dark ground) but how do you do it? Is it hand-held (I guess in this situation the inevitable shaking would make the transition between the two differently exposed areas less conspicous) or you use a device of some sort ?
Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson  I use either a cleaning cloth or just my glove to cover the lens while shaking it vertically to create an even transition. It does the same thing as a GND filter but shooting Aurora with a GND for 60 seconds would render star trails and much more blurred Aurora. Black card works great where shorter exposure time is needed.
Ion Lacatus  It's close to what I've guessed. I never tried it but I will at first opportunity.
Thanks for the tip and looking forward to more shots.
Raymó 1 year ago
...... Til hamingju Örvar!!! jaja every week a published photo, I knew it ;-))) bless Raymó
Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson  Thanks you Raymond. I look forward seeing more of your collection here on 1x.com
Peter Svoboda 1 year ago
amazing shot,congr.
Matjaz Cater 1 year ago
Brilliant capture, well done!
Kusoglu Ali 1 year ago
Wow ...
Excellent ...
Catalin Palosanu 1 year ago
Impressive sky!
hery_sp 1 year ago
Wonderful! Never see the pattern like this before. Most of them are arch-shape.
Ray Yang 1 year ago
Fabulous shot!
Pierre Pageau 1 year ago
félicitations .
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Equipment
Canon 5D MKII + Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8
Location
Bláfjöll, Iceland
Date
20101111
Tags
, AURORA, ICELAND
Unique views
37336
Comments
26
Category
Landscape
 
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