Aurora Borealis

[Nancy Bell]

Photographed this during my recent trip to Alaska. This is the first time I have seen the Aurora and it was incredible! Loved the constant ebb and flow of the light show! I would have gladly stayed up every night to see and photograph this, but I guess lucky for my body many nights were cloudy and so I got my beauty sleep :S3:.

No alterations from the original image. I think the aurora is not only out of this world, but naturally OOTB!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Magical! I must have been fabulous to witness. Perfect for OOTB. Can you tell us your settings?

[Dennis Bishop]

The colors, the light, the shapes . . . This is just amazing. The stars add a lot, and so do the rays of light that seem to emanate from the dark area near the middle. I really like this.

[Kerry Perkins]

Oh yeah, that's amazing! No processing needed. My mind is trying to process it all on its own... I have never seen this either, and I'm curious to know how quickly the patterns change. I've seen video but they all look as if they were sped up like a time-lapse sequence. Beautiful!

[Jeannean Ryman]

WOW! Just beautiful!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Nancy, this is otherworldly and gorgous. Mind numbing. I hope I get to see it some day. The stars are an added bonus:S3:

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks everyone! Kerry, the aurora changes by the second! Then it can totally disappear and you start to head back to sleep, look up and it starts all over again. Jackie, I used the Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 16-35 f2.8 L @ 17mm, AV, ISO 1600, f2.8, 8 sec, exp. comp. +2/3. It is always necessary to check your histogram to determine if you need to adjust your settings. Many times I used a 30 sec exposure. I was usually surprised by my images because the aurora would change during my exposure and I never knew what I actually captured. It was way too cool!

[Gerald Kelberg]

Fabulous shape and colours. Most frequently we see images that include some element of the landscape, but I think having this wonderful shape "in space" makes it all that more exciting.

Thanks for sharing.

[Judy Howle]

Stunning capture!! I've seen quite a few photos of the aurora but never the real thing. This is one of the best photos. Love the stars!

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful! Love the colors, shapes, stars--everything about it. It has a feel of movement. Wonderful that you had such a great experience.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Nancy,

Greetings. Wow, this is really great. I have to move this up on my bucket list. Thanks for posting... just beautiful. I can see being up all night.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks all! Gerald, I too have seen those images with cabins, etc. in the foreground. With my OOTB inclinations I wanted to try something different :bg3:! Judy, the stars certainly were a bonus. It was amazing the stars to be seen when there is no artificial light. Michael, I think this is definitely a bucket-list item! From my experience and research, Fairbanks is a good place to go. I think winter is supposed to be better, or early spring.

[Mitch Carucci]

The sweep of this aurora is great. Lovely colors also. Is this what you saw, or is an image like this only visible with a long exposure. Wonderful image! I have been watching the aurora photos on Spaceweather.com for many years. They are all beautiful, but your image has that wonderful curl.