Aurora Borealis
“Green Vision” – Yukon Territory, Canada – Marc Adamus – Featured Photographer
Marc and his image of the Aurora Borealis have left me speechless. Read the following passage from his new e-book (Due out in May) below to experience what it is like to be on a photo excursion with a true professional. Then head to his website http://www.marcadamus.com/ for some unforgettable landscapes. Feel free to comment on which one is your favorite.
Enter Marc:
Our pilot decided to take the scenic route on the way in to the Yukon’s Tombstone Range in early winter so we could get an extreme close-up of some of the most impressive and enormous granite cliffs we had ever seen. I had convinced two other photographer friends that there wouldn’t be anywhere better on Earth to photograph the light spectacle that is the Aurora Borealis, and I haven’t wavered from that opinion one bit today. The Tombstones are totally unique. A mountain range with world-class character, located almost on the Arctic Circle itself is the best possible place to look up and admire the peaks and night skies. If only it would be clear enough to do so.
By the end of the first four nights we had our answer. The Aurora had come each time and each time we had learned more about what we were trying to do. I had long seen the Aurora photographed, but even before I did so myself I felt like something was missing from almost all the shots – something that would describe what it’s like to stand right there, in that landscape.
Night photography composition is inherently simple because photographers are restricted by very shallow depth of field that comes from the wide-open apertures that let in more light, relegating them to subject matter that is either out of focus or in the distance. Today, digitally, I am just beginning to solve this problem. This trip was about the exploration of an amazing place I had been before but it was also more pointedly about photography than any I had done in a long while. It was about the mastery of new techniques that would allow me to shine more light on both the landscape we witnessed and the dancing lights in the night sky above.
No photograph will ever capture one tenth the magic of the Aurora. It moves, dances, shape-shifts, changes color and some say, it even speaks. It flies across the sky so fast I have seen motion-blur in the Aurora in pictures taken at ½ second shutter speed! Still, photographs are my art and the landscape around us was so grand I could not resist the chance to try to fuse it all together in a single frame that told the story as well as it could. We spent days, sometimes together, sometimes apart, scouting, searching, thinking on both the artistic and technical level how to pull it off. While I value spontaneity and the creativity that often comes with it, this was a time for careful consideration of any photographic undertaking as it would simply be too easy to mess-up.
During the afternoon of the fourth day I suggested we make our way down to ‘scout’ another lakeshore and we came across the most amazing ice formations we had seen all trip! We knew immediately what a challenge it would be to combine the ice, peaks and sky but were undeterred. We returned and moved our camp right away, retracing about 5 miles of our route. After a relatively uneventful night at our new camp we had much of the next day to speculate on what would work best for photography. I had more or less zeroed-in on the location you see depicted here because of the amazing foreground and complimentary peak.
I had identified several technical challenges here I had to overcome. The closest ice was only 6 inches from my lens, the peak was too large to fit in my 14mm with its reflection included and the Aurora would change shape quickly, so everything in the sky and reflection had to be photographed very quickly when the time was right. In addition to all this, we had to stay up almost all night each night into the cold of early winter to do the photographing. I practiced how I would record and later blend the shot during the day, since no lens and no camera could capture this scene in one shot because it was both too wide and contained too much detail from near to far.
I went into the night hoping once more the Aurora would come and fill the scene I had selected and when it did, very briefly, after several hours of waiting, I captured it using 3 images stitched together vertically and 10 more images all blended to get the best depth of field throughout the foreground ice. The vertical stitches were taken all within seconds as to not allow the Aurora to move much and the other 10 for the foreground ice were taken over the next 30 minutes, each a 1.5 minute exposure at about f/8 while the Aurora was still occurring elsewhere around me. By compositing these images (which took about half a day in PS) I was able to show each area with detail and encompass the field of view I could see all around me. I consider the image here to be my most ground-breaking on a technical level as of 2012 and I like being one to embrace all the next great possibilities we will have! It’s an exciting time to be a photographer.
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You do absolutely wonderful work. Thanks for sharing
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This is very interesting, You’re an excessively skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and sit up for seeking extra of your fantastic post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks
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This is stunning.
Absolutely stunning!
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Magical….I used a free picture of these green lights on one of my Blog stories but this one is fantastic..It’s immiment that one would feel that they are right deep within this scene..I feel this and it reminds me of that amazing Astral Flight I had to PARIS many years ago when very ill…I had never trained at all to do this but the effects of being in there hit you right away! Lovely!
I don’t even know what to say. This is stunning. I lived in Alaska for nearly 30 years. I saw my share of Northern Lights…some very colorful. But I never got a photo like this.
this is by far one of the best Northern light pictures I’ve seen! I’m this shade of green with envy!
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Truly grand.
What are those ‘bubbles’ on the lower right side of the photo? They look like they could be jellyfish … very interesting photograph, indeed.
staggeringly beautiful – I also wanted to comment on the Rodeo photo but can’t find the comment button – Duh – what’s the matter with my head?
thank you so much for your visits and support of art rat cafe – it means a lot to me…
hate to use the word awsome but this is
I love this image! The Aurora Borealis images are absolutely amazing and I want to see them in person.
This is great, breath taking. Love it. No more words……….
Breathe taking.. i’ve never loved the color green so much!
Psychedelic! Reminds me of a Yes album cover.
Amazing. It looks like green fire.
This looks very mysterious and deep.
Bella and DiDi
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Thanks so much for presenting this.. Marc is an amazing photographer… I met him once in the Gorge, briefly. if he is reading this too I would like to say
Marc you did an amazing job on this image, huge amount of dedication to accomplish the goal and all of it worth while. Mind boggling, really. I recently caught a hint of the Aurora myself in southern Washington and what an experience that was, but it is small potatoes compared to this! you can see mine here if you are interested http://www.flickr.com/photos/starlisa/7063230085/in/photostream
extraordinary! growing up in northern canada, my parents used to wake us up at night to run into the bitter cold in our flannels to see the auroras, they are so otherworldly, truly as captured in this photo, a moment of magic. thanks for sharing!
It’s intergalatic… great
Incredible.
Fabulous.
WOW! This photo leaves me in awe! Take photos of the northern lights in on my bucket list. I do get to see them on rare occassion in SE South Dakota.
Absolutely amazing!!!!!!
I remember seeing the borealis as a kid in the Black Hills of SD. oh those many years ago. Early ’60′s.
Even for a Yukoner, there are no words for this photo.
Wow, sci-fi – ish…
Awesome other-worldly image!
I have only seen this once, and it was amazing. This photo is spectacular!!!
Exactly what I was writing about last night – an artist at work.
This is amazing. The green highlights throughout the sky is simply beautiful. Love this
wow!!
Spectacular! If only we could enjoy them in warmer climates!
What an unbelievable sight!
Wow- absolutely stunning. I enjoyed reading about the technical requirements that were required to execute this amazing shot.
Knowing I am repeating the general comments, but truly this is awesome.
Patricia
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So beautiful
Wow. I love the foreground
Perfect!
Absolutely awe-inspiring!
It’s on the bucket list, waiting to be erased soon.
REALLY NICE!!
Absolutely stunning, as many pics of the aurora borealis are. I hope to be in a place someday to witness it with my own eyes. Until then, thanks for the imagery!
Absolutely beautiful, stunning.
So outstanding to have a lucid (appropriately enough!) description of the whole process, from inception to the travel and search for shoot sites, and on through the digital wizardry it took to composite such a superb and glorious photo. Hurray!
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful photo, and your experiences with capturing it. From your description, I can only imagine how magnificent it looks in nature.
Wowzers, thanks a bunch for sharing this photo! It’s absolutely gorgeous. The colors are phenomenal!
Also, thanks for favoriting a couple of my posts. Your support is much appreciated
Stunning Photograph, hard to believe a place like that even exists.
Great photo!
There is aurora australis as well:
http://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/new-antarctic-octopus-species-discovered/
Beautifully enhanced photo! I took a peek at Marc’s website too. He does an amazing job of capturing wilderness in all its splendor.
All of my favorite colors. This is just gorgeous!
As photographers we constantly struggle to evoke that “you just had to BE THERE!” Well, you have done it, hands down! We are THERE—minus the extreme cold and sacrifice you took just to share a thing of beauty that most will never travel to see. A thousand times thank you! Took my breath away. What a beautiful way to use photoshop—to make the photo more AUTHENTICALLY REAL. Thanks for sharing your technique.
MY FAVE !!!!!!!!!!
An extraordinary image indeed. Exemplary in every way.
Sweet. The Yukon and Alaska remain on my bucket list.
This is just amazing!
Breathtaking!
incredible, breath-taking!
fantabulous
absolutely magnificent shot , out of this world
Love this blog. It’s got great info, a good place to find inspiration.
great pics
Love it – I just pinned it
I agree with Aarthi!
What I would give to be able to take a photo like that, Wow.
I sure hope to see one of this some day, beautiful!
WOW!
Amazing! Speechless, yes. Thank you for sharing.
Amazingly Beautiful!
Oh, my! Love-love-love!!
This is on my bucket list! Amazing!
This sends shivers all over me!
It has always been an ambition to see the aurora borealis (or northern lights) – this just makes me want to even more…
Thank you
What a fantastic picture. I love the shape of the ice in the foreground. Really surreal.
Having lived in Northern Ontario with spectacular ‘northern lights’ I am always nostalgic of this type of photo. This one is EXCEPTIONALLY beautiful. As always it is humbling to be in the presence of such truth. Thank you for continuing to inspire and delight. Blessings and peace. Beth
Amazing green!
Wow that is stunning! Great shot!
Amazing shot!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your picture posts are gorgeous! i had a great time looking through all of the photos.
I am not a photographer, but I lived with one for several years. The composition of this shot is lovely, and the techniques seamlessly and effectively meld the perfect shot. I have to confess a preference for unenhanced photos, but your technique is really great, and your honesty about it greatly appreciated. I’m happy to see that most photographers are straightforward about processed shots such as this, in a time when we can’t afford to assume that any image we see is real. Terrific shot — I’ll be over to see more.
There is a land in which I dream
To climb the mountains and swim the stream
A celestial place in hues of green
Were the still water is a reflection glass
For all to see what is in their path.
msuzanne http://www.godisiam.net
AMAZING
It’s certainly very green
That is absolutely awesome!! I’d love to visit a place like that!!
WoW!! Can’t believe my eyes that such a beautiful place exists in this world!
Out of this world!
I lived 15 years in Norway and every time I could assist to this sky it was like the first time.. It is something you never get bored and you never have enough!
Wonderful picture!!!
Thanks for sharing!
simply breath-taking!
I guess, this is what heaven must feel like!