Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Northern Lights

The majority of the pics you see on the web have used hugely long exposures .... you can tell as the foreground has detail showing even though the pic will have been taken in virtually pitch darkness .... it's a really engaging sight in real life ... but we have the common problem of doctored social media images giving people an unrealistic expectation of what they'll probably see.

K

Agreed. Anyway I decided watching them was more fun.

We love cruises - on smaller ships. However, Fred Olsen is definitely one of the worst when it comes to service, food and ship quality. Tried them once - never again.

One day (err night!), when in northern Scotland I will get to see them. Tripod and long exposure, at the ready.

With you on that Phil. We have done one summer trip Bergen-Kirkeness-Trondheim which was magnificent and almost no darkness at all. Then we did a winter trip , and almost no daylight , BUT 5 great displays of the light show to beat all light shows , and a husky ride near Tromsø more than compensated.

Have seen them a few times in Scotland and in Shetland but have never had a decent camera with me at the time. This was taken hand held on my phone looking across towards the Sullom Voe oil and gas terminals in March 2018;

I experimented between 5 and 20 second exposure at F3.5 with a 16mm wide angle lens. I found the best compromise for a some detail in the foreground (the ship) and the horizon (the mountains surrounding the fjords) was 5 seconds at ISO 3200. The aurora was of course very blurry, but that is the nature of the beast.

When I came to process them I found the boat was sharp , the background was blurred due to the rocking motion of the ship , but the worst problem was the digital noise. I would definitely use ISO 1600 max if I ever get the chance again.

At pretty much their minimum this winter but they'll be getting stronger and more frequent each year from now to 2025 .... go in winter and as far north as you can .... in Shetland they're much more common (known as the 'mirrie dancers' locally) .... you could combine it with a trip to see Up Helly Aa.... tho if you're taking a winter trip up there you should pack a spare liver .... they most surely know how to party!

K

Ps ... just seen the pic Red Three posted of the aurora in Shetland a couple of years back .... you should have a good chance of seeing similar up there sometime during a week visit as we move towards the maximum activity ... but like all natural phenomena there's no certainty.

My DSLR has some incredible ISO range available. I conducted an experiment one day to see how much noise there was at high ISO settings. I now have the camera set with the ISO range capped at 1600.

We were over at Torquay hospital for a routine check up today and it was sad seeing five humungous cruise liners still parked up in the bay and seemed a sorry old sight somehow, I can't help wondering if they will ever be fully employed again..