Brilliant Pics of the Aurora Borealis

[willpower]

They might even be visible as far south as Rome in 2012.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...r.html?image=1

 

[Jayhawk1412]

wow, that is incredible

 

[peteypistol]

awesome pictures

 

[Crane's]

I would love to take pics of an Aurora. It's so rare this far South but just maybe in a year or so I'll get lucky.

 

[Geoff Gander]

Awesome - I have something to look forward to. Thanks for posting this - you've renewed my appreciation for the planet.

 

[unjung]

Nice, I look forward to this. I actually remember the shows in 2000.

 

[warmpi]

2012?

game over man. game over.

 

[skywalker]

"Scientists have predicted that the Northern lights should be visible as far south as Rome in 2012. However, if the 2012 auroras are as big as expected, they could cause disruption to mobile phones, GPS and even the national grid."

Doom

 

[TM79]

Originally Posted by warmpi

2012?

game over man. game over.

lol... nice.

awesome pics, too.

 

[Douglas]

what are the exposure times on these images? having never seen the AB, I am suspicious that very long exposures are making these look more intense than reality.

 

[Crane's]

Douglas my guess would be the exposure would be in seconds to maybe up to half a minute.

 

[farraj18]

That's beautiful. Thanks for the post.

 

[cjblack28]

Originally Posted by Crane's

I would love to take pics of an Aurora. It's so rare this far South but just maybe in a year or so I'll get lucky.




Yeah I'd really like to try and go somewhere to photograph the AB in 2012.

 

[areyounoob]

Originally Posted by Douglas

what are the exposure times on these images? having never seen the AB, I am suspicious that very long exposures are making these look more intense than reality.

I might not be referring to the same thing, but AB is accessible almost every night depending on where you live. I used to live in the prairies of Canada and every winter if you gaze up at the sky you would see green curtains glimmering in the sky. Not as spectacular as the one posted, but enough to say you've seen them and their graceful shimmer. It is also very easy to snap a photo of them.
Since then, I moved to the western provinces and unfortunately I can't see a thing. But I do understand that the further north you go the greater the lightshow is.

 

[LittleHorn]

Originally Posted by Douglas

what are the exposure times on these images? having never seen the AB, I am suspicious that very long exposures are making these look more intense than reality.

Since an AB photo is one with a relatively high subject brightness range (SBR) -the brightness of the lights compared to the darkness of the sky- than the photographer should go with a spot metering of the AB. That way the photographer can get the proper exposure that their looking for in regards to the AB. Spot metering is an underused technique, but once you understand it, and can implement it. Your photos exposures will be noticeably better.

Basically the photographer probably spot metered to get the brilliant contrast between AB and night sky.