Seeing the Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis) has been on my bucket list and is one of the reasons I took the trip to Iceland. It made its first appearance on the first night of our tour although it was not very strong and was obscured by clouds. We chased it several nights, standing out in the freezing cold at various locations in the hopes it would make another appearance. It finally did on the last night of the tour, when we were near Vik.
What surprised me, and slightly disappointed me was that the aurora doesn’t look like this to the human eye. I had trouble seeing it as it really just looked like thin clouds with a slight tinge to it. It doesn’t have the brilliant color you see in pictures until you look at the results of a long-exposure photo.
The following sites have some information about the phenomenon and tips on photographing the aurora:
- How to photograph the aurora (Aurora Service)
- A Beginning Photographer’s Guide to Photographing The Northern Lights from PetaPixel)
- Northern Lights Photography – The Definitive Guide Dave Morrow Photography)
A Beginning Photographer’s Guide to Photographing The Northern Lights
