Aurora 1

WOW! what a sight!

These are northern lights as snapped from my apartment balcony. I

live on the 12th floor, north facing (although this photo is more

NW) - this was about 11:30 at night.

 

The northern lights were so bright and moving so fast that I had to

reduce my shutter speed from 4s to 2.5s in order to reduce the blur

and get nicer definition.

 

I'd be interested if any one could give me comments regarding the

photographic elements (composition, exposure, etc).

Really nice shot, but you should have cropped the bottom half.

Top quarter of the picture can be a bit distracting. You could try cropping it. Only a suggestion though. Nice idea.

I thought the buildings might give the sky some context - showing just how bright the aurora were, etc. I guess we agree to disagree (unless you had another reason for your suggestion - I'm all ears!).

 

Thanks for commenting, though!

I know where you live... bahahaha! :D

Did you take this yesterday (Nov. 21)? As for this photo I would crop out your balcony, just so it is less distracting from the Aurora. Personally I think that this would make it look a lot better, but you can disagree! Maybe a slight tweak to the curves as well... Below is what I would envision it looking like.

 

/daniel
http://www.geocities.com/haydukphoto

I think the exposure is about spot-on. The only element I want to lose is the railing at bottom left. Impressive.

Good exposure for the aurora. It's tough to get that right. The foreground doesn't add a whole lot to the photo, though. Cool foregrounds can strenghen astrophotography shots immensely.

Daniel - yes, if you're familiar with the University area in Edmonton, you can probably figure out where I live. And thanks for your suggestion - I realize the railing and roof don't add anything to the photo. Unfortunately I don't have the capability (or the willingness) to hold my camera over the balcony with any degree of steadiness.

 

Josh - yeah, the buildings aren't all that aesthetically impressive as foreground subjects. But I kind of liked them since they gave a real comparison for how bright these Northern Lights were.

 

I took other shots looking out over downtown Edmonton - I'd be interested to hear all y'alls thoughts on them too...