The Quiet Picture

Random rants and occasional photographs
Archive for December 15th, 2006

Northern lights

December 15th, 2006 | Category: night sky

The light display wasn’t quite as good as it was last night. As I was looking at the faint glow in the north, I realised that yesterday was actually not the first time I’ve ever seen the aurora - I’ve seen this same kind of glow before, but I’ve always just assumed that it’s light reflected on clouds. I guess my expectations have been too high, I’ve always just expected to see the glorious shifting of lights and when that doesn’t happen, I haven’t made the connection between the steady glow and aurora. But having said that, nothing takes away the feeling I had last night. In my mind, I will always remember that moment!

Anyways, this time I had the camera with me. I’m on a steep learning curve… I’ve never done night sky photography before. To start with, how do you compose in the dark?! I could hardly see where the viewfinder was, let alone seeing anything through it… I ended up using my flashlight on the FG tree, aimed the camera at it, and hoped that the Big Dipper would fit in the frame. Lucky me, it did! My mission for tonight - weather permitting - is to expose correctly, as well…

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