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[DragonSpeed]

My wife and I headed up to Whitehorse last week with the hope of seeing the Northern Lights.  The first few nights were fruitless.  Darned clouds and unhelpful magnetic field.  The last three nights - 12,13,14 of March were fantastic. (by my standards at least)  Each night, the lights were different one night low and bright, another they formed gossamer curtains of light that waved and danced high in the sky.  Amazing!

Here are a few of the best shots (horizons are left crooked on purpose - didn't want to lose any of the aurora light to a crop)

1.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

2.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

3.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

4.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

5.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

6.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

7.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

8.

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights by DragonSpeed, on Flickr

The set can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonspeed/sets/72157633015491842/with/8563402229/

I hope you enjoy it!

Things I learned while shooting:

1. Don't fiddle with your camera or tripod with bare hands in -25C... Frostbite comes quickly and painfully.
2. After focusing at 55mm, don't forget to zoom back to 17mm before shooting.. Doh!
3. It's REALLY hard to see the horizon in the dark when your breath freezes on the viewfinder.
4. Bring a spare set of keys so that when you lock one set in the vehicle with your phones you can still get off the lakeside in -25C.
5. If you think you'll be warm enough... bring more layers... you're never TOO warm in -25C
6. You need a really wide lens to get the cool Aurora shots.  We had 17mm on a 7D. A 10mm on a 5DIII would have been REALLY cool.

[bigblue]

DS, those are stunning pictures!
I havn't yet had a chance to venture up north, but it is something I would love to do.

[DavidD]

Nice Pics DS - How long of an exposure did you use?

[DragonSpeed]

Nice Pics DS - How long of an exposure did you use?

Thanks.  Settings were generally:

15 or 30 secs with F/4 ISO 1600
15 or 30 secs with F2.8 ISO 1250

DS, those are stunning pictures!
I haven't yet had a chance to venture up north, but it is something I would love to do.

Thanks!
Only a 2.5 hour flight to Whitehorse!