Night & Auroras
The strange curtains of dancing colours of the Northern lights in the night sky has fascinated the Icelanders for centuries. In the Viking days, the aurora displays were thought to be the souls of the battle dead on their way to Valhalla. In the middle ages, pregnant women were afraid to whistle in the presence of Northern Lights for fear of being whisked away by them.
My aurora photography tries to include the Icelandic landscape where possible to show the setting and scale of the Northern lights over head. A successful aurora photograph has a lot to do with the shape that is captures. The collection of images here is just the tip of the iceberg as they were selected from many hundreds of photographs shot since 2004. I like to include water in one form or another for the reflected colours and if I am lucky near perfect reflections.
In most of these pictures, I have used the Magic Cloth Technique to expose the landscape longer than the sky. Hopefully the result is a natural balance of exposure that produces such a satisfying print. Because the photos are so well exposed in the first place, the final print has wonderful detail with great colours and no noise.
Night photography shows us more stars and more Northern light colours than the Naked eye due to the power of a long exposure and our eye's inability to see colour in the dark. The aurora can be very feint to the eye and difficult to see. Because of the darkness, your eye is only using it's rods which enable you to see, but don't have colour processing. A long exposure with a camera will tell a very different story because the long exposure makes the camera much more sensitive than the eye and also has colour.
Have some of Iceland's most incredible aurora displays in your home. It is so easy to order on the photo page. A quality photography print will impress any visitor... even those from Outer Space.
Read MoreMy aurora photography tries to include the Icelandic landscape where possible to show the setting and scale of the Northern lights over head. A successful aurora photograph has a lot to do with the shape that is captures. The collection of images here is just the tip of the iceberg as they were selected from many hundreds of photographs shot since 2004. I like to include water in one form or another for the reflected colours and if I am lucky near perfect reflections.
In most of these pictures, I have used the Magic Cloth Technique to expose the landscape longer than the sky. Hopefully the result is a natural balance of exposure that produces such a satisfying print. Because the photos are so well exposed in the first place, the final print has wonderful detail with great colours and no noise.
Night photography shows us more stars and more Northern light colours than the Naked eye due to the power of a long exposure and our eye's inability to see colour in the dark. The aurora can be very feint to the eye and difficult to see. Because of the darkness, your eye is only using it's rods which enable you to see, but don't have colour processing. A long exposure with a camera will tell a very different story because the long exposure makes the camera much more sensitive than the eye and also has colour.
Have some of Iceland's most incredible aurora displays in your home. It is so easy to order on the photo page. A quality photography print will impress any visitor... even those from Outer Space.
