There was a storm and then there were lights.
Last Thursday and again on Friday, September 11th and 12th, the sun sent a blast of energy our way in the form of a coronal mass ejection, or CME. While these strong magnetic storms can cause problems for electrical grids, GPS, and radios, what interested me, and just about every other photographer I know, was the light show.
You see these potentially damaging solar storms are also what gives us the Aurora Borealis. otherwise known as the Northern Lights. While much of my photography takes place during daylight hours, the reported potential intensity of the Aurora, and the fact we don’t usually see the Aurora this far south, had me grabbing my camera and heading for the mountains.
I’m glad I did.
Jeff Sinon Photography 
Wow!
That’s what I said when I saw it on the back of my camera.
This. Is. Beautiful.
Thank you.
Jeff – This looks so unreal! I love that you included your tent in the foreground. Amazing image.
~Mar
we’re glad you did! this is a stunning image! the colors are surreal! lucky you! Northern lights are still on my list of beautiful things to see!
Thanks Julie. It was pretty spectacular, even though to our eyes it was mostly in black and white. Fortunately the camera sees color at night.
ahahaha I’m happy the camera is not color-blind and that you were there to press the shutter and show us such beauty!
Me Too!!
Great photo…The Northern Lights are on my “Bucket List”.
I’m glad you got to see it. We had a spectacular show in central Alaska – the best I’ve seen in 10 years.
Oh man, I’ll bet! My understanding is that being further north you can actually see the colors too. For us there were a few subtle hints of color occasionally, but for the most part it in black and white.
Darn you human eyes for not seeing color in the dark! 🙂
OMG what an amazing picture!!!
Thanks! 😀
Awesome, great capture
Thanks!
Nice and colorful photo, but what’s happened to the colors? The color profile doesn’t seem right.
I’m not sure. I did bump up the saturation a little, but it’s not too far off from straight out of the camera.
I guess it’s just because the colors are different than what I’m used to seeing when I’ve seen the Northern Lights. The ones that I’ve been lucky enough to experience, has had a more blue/greenish color.
I’m guessing that’s it. It was a bit surprised by the magenta color since most of the aurora photos I’ve ever seen have shown it as green as well. Maybe we’re just “special” here in New England 🙂
Wow. I bet it must have left you spellbound…! 0.0 🙂
Yes and no. The aurora was quite a sight, but to our eyes it was mostly colorless. The camera saw the colors you see here, but to those of us there that night it was pretty much black and white since the human eye doesn’t see color in the dark.
Breathtaking–I cannot imagine the feelings that you felt observing such a natural phenomenon.
It was breath-taking! Even seeing it, as I mention in replies to other people, pretty much in black and white, seeing the pillars of light rising into the night sky was pretty awesome.
It was cloudy and rainy those two nights around these parts. I was sad to miss it.
That is a bummer, but there’s always next time. For my first Aurora attempt another photographer friend and I sat out in the middle of a frozen lake until about 3 a.m., and saw nothing.
Super! Photos of the nature are my passion. http://www.aloisabsenger.wordpress.com
Jeff, I’m so glad that you were there. It’s magnificent.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you very much Norma. I was pretty glad to have been there too!
STUNNING! AMAZING! WOW! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Lucy. I bet you must see them fairly regularly though don’t you?
Awesome… and this was taken so far south? Good call to get out!
It’s been a pretty good year or so, with the Aurora being visible much further south than normal. My understanding is that the sun is at the peak of an approximately 11 year cycle as far as sun spot/solar storms goes.
Interesting… next time I am home in Canada I will have to look at the sky more. Here in Shanghai too much light pollution to see stars etc. Although the lights and patterns on the buildings are also beautiful.
Yes, light pollution form a big city will certainly put a damper on your night sky viewing, but it does open up other photographic possibilities.
The Bund is stunning with all the dazzling lights… and last night sunset was glorious reflecting off the glass buildings. Being here and getting home is the best of both worlds 🙂
That is one amazing photo! I remember seeing the Northern Lights once at Girl Scout camp in Wisconsin. They certainly did not look like this. They were more black & white and perhaps a bit greenish to my naked eye, as I remember. So why does the camera ‘see’ pink and yellow? Do you know? And why in horizontal blocks rather than following the vertical light places? If you are adding some of that in post-production, that is fine. I’m not judging, I’m just trying to learn more about the Aurora.
It’s our darn eyes. The color is there, the human eye just can’t see it in the dark. I did boost the saturation a little, but the colors as you see them are not too far off from what the camera saw. Like you, what we saw was pretty much in black and white, with a faint green visible every once in a while.
Even though I kind of knew that I wouldn’t see the color, at least this far south, this having been my first time both seeing it and photographing it, I was surprised the first time I took a test exposure. Needles to say I was pretty excited by what I saw.
I do believe that if you’re far enough north, the Aurora is so bright that you can in fact see the color with the naked eye, but I wonder if the camera still wouldn’t see it as being brighter and more saturated.
Jeff.. incredible!
Thanks!
Stunning as usual. I love looking at your photographs and am glad you made it out there to capture this one. I grew up in Alaska and the Northern Lights is one of the things I miss the most now that I’ve moved away.
Thank you! I can imagine you’d miss it. I also can’t imagine you’d ever get tired of seeing it either.
w.o.w.
😀
We’re so glad you did, too!!
Incredible!
(What was the temperature out there?)
Thank you! We’ve had temps in the 40’s at night, with 30’s up north. But it’s supposed to be near 80 this weekend. I guess summer isn’t quite ready to let go yet.
Absolutely stunning photo. Great job!!!!! Love the nature patterns. Gorgeous.
Thank you very much.