Photographing the Northern Lights: Camera Settings

How do you set up your camera to photograph the Northern Lights?

You’ve packed your bags and left home full of excitement for the trip you’ve been waiting months for. Check-in and flight complete, you’re heading north. You land with palpable anticipation: you can’t wait for night to fall so you can look up at the sky and search for a sign, a small green glow.

And it is right here, at this exact moment, that you need to prepare as best as possible for what will be an event to remember and capture forever.

Here’s how to set up a camera to photograph the Northern Lights:

1. Shoot in RAW, because it allows for higher image quality and better results, as well as more editing options in post-production. That way, you can even turn the Northern Lights fuchsia.
2. Turn off image stabilization if it is enabled, both on the camera and on the lens you will be using.
3. As for the metering mode, many recommend Matrix metering, but the best thing to do is test it and see what works best with your camera.
4. Always check the color histogram to make sure you haven’t blown out any areas. In any case, the advice is to underexpose slightly so you don’t blow out the color of the aurora itself.

But even if you’ve hit the jackpot with your camera settings, the journey to bringing home “The Shot” doesn’t end here. In the next articles, you’ll find useful information about focus, aperture, and ISO.