Tag Archives: Northern Lights

St. Patrick’s Day 2015 Northern Lights Display (Yr. 2: Day 55)

Year 2,

At 2:00 a.m. my Northern Lights app alarm went off. A quick check of the numbers revealed the conditions were looking insanely good. This fact plus clear skies and no moon meant a trip north of Duluth twenty five miles to the frozen ice of Boulder Lake was demanded. By 2:40 am I was on the ice, and stayed there till 5 am. The Aurora filled the sky, even sometimes to my south. The peak of the Zodiac even had flashing lights for almost an hour. Here are a few photos from last night … a true start for a St. Patrick’s celebration!

Matt joined me on the ice around 3:30 am. Got a nice photo of him changing camera settings during a “quiet period” of lights!

Northern Lights at Boulder Lake … 25 miles north of Duluth
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Northern Magic: Aurora Borealis & Apostle Islands Ice Caves

Year 2,

The 40th day of year 2 demonstrates the magical beauty of the Northland. Shortly after 4 am, 40 miles north of Duluth, Minnesota I watched the Northern Lights dance across the early morning sky. While I was watching the Aurora, an owl kept me company hooting from about one hundred yards away!

If the day had just ended at this point, I would have been happy. However, along with a few friends we drove over to northwestern Wisconsin and visited the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Ice Caves. We hit the jackpot … a gorgeous blue ski day with mild winds and temperatures which soared into the mid 20’s. Winter is truly special!

Northern Lights Over Little Stone Lake (Minnesota)
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Apostle Islands Ice Caves
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Most folks walk over the frozen Lake Superior ice … some come by plane! Regardless, it is a treat to see the ice caves … an experience which only occurs every few years when a cold winter and winds over Lake Superior combine to make the ice safe to walk out to the caves.
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Photographing the Dark Side Using the Sony NEX-5T! (Yr. 2: Day 27)

Background, Year 2,

Early in the afternoon, just prior to dusk I found three Snowy Owls. This owl photograph started another round of “dark side” photographs … taking images of the northern night!

For two nights in a row I have headed north of Knife River, Minnesota and chased the Northern Lights. These photos were taken about 3:15 am last night (night of Feb 17-18). The Aurora colors were a bit better than the previous night, but I still missed the light pillars. Some back lighting is present from a distant security light.

These night time photos were taken with my new SONY NEX-5T. My primary reasons for purchasing this camera were twofold: low light photography and landscape photography. The NEX has exceeded my expectations even with the kit lens. Here in northern Minnesota, the combination of the Lake Superior wilderness and dark night skies allows me to spend significant time out in the wild with my camera. I was looking for a high quality, light camera which I could easily pack into the back country with me. Here is what I have found:

  • Trying to focus on infinity for night photographs initially threw me off given there is no infinity hard stop while using manual focus. However, this issue was easily solved once I learned to to set the ISO to 24,600 (increases light sensitivity) and point a red laser on a distant tree or object. When the red light is as crisp and small a circle as possible, one has achieved infinity focus. After focusing I set the ISO back to the desired level.
  • No need to use the bulb setting … use a two second delay when pushing the shutter for landscape and night images
  • I was disappointed that a charging unit did not come for the battery, but I made a purchase of a backup battery which included a wall plug-in charging unit. I do not like having to insert the USB cable into the camera to charge it. Bad things happen when a camera is resting on a desk or table next to a computer.
  • Although I was worried that the minimum aperture of 3.5 would not let in enough light for night images, and I would have to purchase an additional wide angle low light lens, the kit lens with its 3.5 aperture has worked superbly in low light.

Snowy Owl Just Before Dusk
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Knife River Night Lights
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