A Guide to Capturing the Aurora: The Magic right here in Melbourne

Capturing the elusive beauty of the aurora is an adventure that many photographers dream of. While the natural light display can be unpredictable, a few expert tips can significantly enhance your chances of taking breathtaking photos.

If you happened to be in the southern states of Australia on the 10 or 11th of May 2024 to quite the show with one of the brightest Aurora Australis phenomena in recent years! Not many know that those of us in the Southern Hemisphere also can experience the phenomenon of charged particles from the sun interacting with our magnetic field to create such a dazzling display.

After capturing the show last night, I received a TON of questions so here are some tips on seeing and photographing the aurora for yourself.

When will the next Aurora be?

• Really variable, depends on a thing called “space weather” but basically it happens when there is an eruption on the surface of the sun and that eruption “faces” the Earth
• The weather on the sun has a roughly 11 year cycle where eruptions become more frequent – it happens to be in one of those phases in 2024.
• Also dependent on Earth weather:
  • Seasons – if it’s summer, the nights are shorter to less chance to see the aurora
  • Clouds – since the aurora happens high up in the atmosphere, cloud cover can block the view
  • Moon phase – if it’s a bright moon, will make the aurora seem dimmer
• Your location – the magnetic field is the strongest at the North/South poles so the closer you are the higher the chances of seeing it

While it’s very unpredictable, there are a few models/services that can help if an aurora is likely. Please see the links below:

• Space weather prediction center – https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
• Bureau of Meteorology Australia – https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Aurora
• Aurora Hunters Vic – Facebook group providing notifications of Aurora activity. Check to see if your location has something like this too – https://www.facebook.com/groups/AuroraHuntersVictoria/

Where can I watch the Aurora?

While any spot can theoretically see the aurora, the following tips will help you see it in all its glory:

• Seek spots with minimal light pollution. The darker the environment, the better the visibility. Generally, you want to be about an hour out of most cities (say 25-30km away) to avoid competing with street and building lights spilling into the night sky
• Coastal areas and elevated spots often provide clearer views, away from city lights.
• Look toward the horizon in the direction of the nearest pole (south in the Southern Hemisphere, north in the Northern Hemisphere).

What equipment do I need?

If the aurora is bright enough you’ll be able to see it with your eyes. In person, it’s less saturated/bright than what most of the photos you see capture.

In the past, you needed fancy SLRs but in recent times, smartphones have come such a long way that I’d say for most people they’re more ideal.

For context, the shots you see here are on my Samsung Galaxy S24Ultra* shot either handheld or on a tripod in night mode.

Photography equipment:

• Tripod (highly recommended)* – most cameras do an amazing job with hand held shots that just weren’t possible in low light a few years ago, but for the sharpest image, tripod is essential.
• Camera/Phone with long exposure mode – most phones have night mode or a Pro mode where you can increase the shutter time. Most cameras have something similar
• Plenty of storage – if it’s a good show, you KNOW you’ll take a TON of photos! 

For yourself:

Aurora hunting can be a waiting game in the cooler months, so prepare accordingly:

• Dress warmly—the nights are cold, especially in prime viewing seasons.
• Bring a thermos of your favorite warm beverage and some snacks.
• A chair and some company can make the wait more enjoyable, or simply lose yourself in the cosmic show above.

What camera settings should I use?

This is very hard to give general advice on but there’s SO many variables. I’ll give some general advice here that will work for MOST people. A lot is personal preference so feel free to totally ignore what’s written below. If you’re thinking that the ISO/F-stop etc isn’t right, then this advice is not for you- you already know what to do and how to do it and how to fix the problems with those trade offs.

Mobile phone

If you have a phone from the last 2 to 3 years, the computational engine makes up for a LOT of the shortcomings of having such a small sensor. The traditional advice has always been to shoot in Pro Mode or in RAW, but more and more, the night mode built into the software does a REALLY good job, especially if you don’t want to fiddle with the image in software later to edit it.

My Samsung has a dedicated night more, Pixels have NightSight and iPhones have something similar. On the Samsung, there is an automatically chosen exposure time, but I change it to maximum to increase the amount of light captured.

If you are going to fiddle with manual settings, for phones, 

• ISO – I’d say keep the ISO to the middle of the range you can choose from. For example, if your selectable range is ISO 100-3200, I’d set the ISO around 800 and adjust the shutter after that
  • Yes, low ISO is better for noise, but keeping a phone steady can be tricky and you also want a shutter speed that’s slow enough for colour, but fast enough so you have some details especially if there’s beams
• F-stop – this one is really hard to comment on because it’s really dependant on whether you have things in the foreground to keep in focus or not. Generally, I leave mine to auto. Phones have an advantage here that most things will stay in focus due to the relatively small lens and relatively small aperture.
• Shutter speed – I aim to have a shutter speed < 30 seconds. My main reason is that the longer you go, the more intense and bright the colours are but the further it is from what you’re actually seeing. Also, if you’re lucky enough to see the beams, the start to lose definition the longer your shutter is.

Cameras

Cameras generally have a larger sensor and hence can capture more light and have a bit more flexibility in the image for editing after. That said, most of the time, it takes some post-processing to get the photos to look as nice as what phones manage to do straight off the bat.

Cameras also generally have far worse anti-shake that phones so a tripod is ESSENTIAL. If you want to make things easy for yourself, look to see if there is a night mode, fireworks mode or night landscape mode. Those do an admirable job in balancing the settings usually.

For those fiddling:

• ISO – Generally, I stick to the lower third of the available range. Obviously lower is better for noise, but I personally don’t like huge shutter speeds for the reasons above. Rule of thumb, I stick to ISO 100-400 unless you happen to have a low light beast of a camera which has no noise til ISO 3200
• F-stop – look up “hyperfocal distance settings” for your camera mode/lens combo and I tend to use that to ensure that most of the frame is in focus.
• Shutter speed – I’m someone who likes more definition in the aurora than just colour, so I tend to keep shutter speeds to 15-30 seconds. 

Final thoughts and conclusions

Auroras are fickle phenomena and it’s taken me a while to get a hang of chasing and photographing them. Once you do manage to see one, I’m sure you’ll be hooked!

If there’s anything else you want to know in this article, let me know in the comments or shoot me a DM on Instagram.

I thought I’d finish with some links on what the Aurora actually see and some further information. 

Links:

• What is an aurora (BoM) – https://youtu.be/FpLd20_htF8
• Capturing the Aurora (BoM) – https://youtu.be/0xUF82rVljE
• Aurora Alert app – https://aurora-alerts.com/

Happy Aurora Hunting!