With so many aurora pictures on various media and the incredible variety of the appearance of the Aurora I'm wondering what is the "right" way, if there is such a thing, to photo it.
I read somewhere that suggested ideal white balance for night photographs is in the range 3200K to maybe 4200K (if I remember correctly)
I tend not to bother changing white balance and have mine set to 5500K and as I shoot raw I can tweak it in Lightroom.
So I had a little play with one of my images to create the closest to what I actually saw by eye, my standard picture at 5500K ( very little was changed in LR, a small exposure adjust and some clarity, sharpening and noise reduction and a medium contrast, Taken at 8 secs at F4 and 640ISO) and one at 3500K.
First the one I put up elsewhere:5500K
Aurora 10 5 24-5723 by M Plowman, on Flickr
Next at 3500K
Aurora 10 5 24 WB3500-5723 by M Plowman, on Flickr
Finally the nearest to what I could eyeball - much clearer than I recall.
Aurora 10 5 24 Eyeball-5723 by M Plowman, on Flickr
Which way would go?
Edit: just noticed I said 1/8th sec when I meant 8 seconds - now corrected.
I read somewhere that suggested ideal white balance for night photographs is in the range 3200K to maybe 4200K (if I remember correctly)
I tend not to bother changing white balance and have mine set to 5500K and as I shoot raw I can tweak it in Lightroom.
So I had a little play with one of my images to create the closest to what I actually saw by eye, my standard picture at 5500K ( very little was changed in LR, a small exposure adjust and some clarity, sharpening and noise reduction and a medium contrast, Taken at 8 secs at F4 and 640ISO) and one at 3500K.
First the one I put up elsewhere:5500K
![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53711664387_b567c8735c_b.jpg)
Next at 3500K
![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53715055057_240b815700_b.jpg)
Finally the nearest to what I could eyeball - much clearer than I recall.
![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53716307619_808c12eef2_b.jpg)
Which way would go?
Edit: just noticed I said 1/8th sec when I meant 8 seconds - now corrected.
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