How to Photograph the Northern Lights: A Complete Guide

Photographing the Northern Lights: What Equipment Do You Need?

We call it the northern lights, Aurora Borealis, or polar lights. In the Southern Hemisphere it’s the southern lights or Aurora Australis. In Canada people speak of the torches of the gods, and in Scandinavia of battles and doom.

Either way, we’re talking about the stunning green and red sky phenomena that never cease to enchant us — and now we’ll show you how to photograph the northern lights at their best.

Without the right gear, there are no great aurora shots. So let’s start with what to look for in a camera and lens.

The Best Camera for Photographing the Northern Lights

The model isn’t all that important. But you should be able to swap lenses on your camera and make adjustments manually. That means setting the ISO value, shutter speed, and aperture yourself.

If you want to get the most out of your shots, a camera with a full-frame sensor is ideal. A full-frame sensor is larger than a sensor in APS-C format and can therefore capture more light — and more of the northern lights.

Spare Batteries

You should also make sure you have enough memory cards on hand, and perhaps even more importantly: spare batteries.

No matter where you photograph the northern lights, it’s going to get very cold. Batteries drain quickly and without warning in the cold. So bring one or two spare batteries and keep them close to your body — like in the inside pocket of your jacket.

Warning: Once your shoot is over and you’re back at your accommodation, let the camera warm up slowly inside your backpack or bag. This prevents moisture from condensing on the cold camera and damaging the electronics.

Photographing the Northern Lights: Which Lens Is Right?

With lenses, there are two aspects to consider: focal length and aperture speed.

The shorter the focal length, the more sky — and therefore more northern lights — you can capture. Focal lengths of 15 to 35 mm work well for getting as much of the landscape and sky into your shot as possible.

Keep in mind the crop factor of your sensor. For a camera with an APS-C format sensor, around 10 to 23 mm would be ideal. If you’re shooting with an MFT sensor, that would correspond to roughly an 8 to 17 mm lens.

Cameras unfortunately aren’t as good as our eyes. That’s why you need a lens that can capture enough light — meaning one with the lowest possible f-number. If you’re not sure what we mean by that, check out our article on aperture in photography.

Anything below f/2.8 is ideal. This kind of light-gathering capability isn’t as common in zoom lenses, so prime lenses are a great option. There’s a wide selection available, and they’re usually more affordable than fast zoom lenses.

Practical Accessories for Photographing the Northern Lights

The right photo accessories are at least as important as the right camera and lens for getting great aurora shots.

A Tripod for Sharp Photos

You can’t do without a tripod. Seriously. With exposure times of more than one second while you’re shivering from the cold, it’s impossible to hold the camera still enough.

Depending on your needs, here are our tripod recommendations:

Dress Warmly

If you’re out photographing the northern lights, it’s going to be cold. So make sure you’re dressed for it.

Thermal underwear, thick socks, hiking boots, a heavy jacket, a hat, and most importantly: gloves.

There are practical models from outdoor brands like Mammut or Heat Company that let you quickly free your thumb and index finger. That way you can still operate your camera and tuck your fingers back in right away.

To the Mammut photography glove / To the Heat Company glove with heat pads

Enough Light for Your Northern Lights Shoot

It won’t just be cold — it’ll also be dark. Because you can only see the aurora at night. So pack a flashlight, or even better, a headlamp so your hands stay free.

Your phone works as a flashlight, of course. But again: the cold drains batteries incredibly fast, and you might still need your phone as a GPS for the drive back.

To the headlamp on Amazon

Photographing the Northern Lights: What Camera Settings Should You Use?

The camera settings for photographing the northern lights are rough guidelines. Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO value all need to be adjusted depending on the lighting situation. Keep reviewing your shots and tweak the settings as you go.

If you’re not yet familiar with your camera’s settings, it’s definitely worth getting comfortable with them before your northern lights shoot.

The most important camera settings for great northern lights photos at a glance:

• Camera mode: M, manual mode
• ISO value: 1600–6400
• Shutter speed: 1–5 seconds
• Aperture: f/1.4–2.8
• White balance: incandescent (3500–4500 Kelvin)
• Focus: manual, just before infinity
• Image stabilizer: off

If these settings don’t mean much to you yet, here’s a breakdown of each one.

Camera Mode

Turn off all automatic modes and shoot in manual M mode. That gives you full control over your camera and lets you set the ISO value, shutter speed, and aperture yourself.

This is the safe approach, because the camera’s auto mode can’t recognize the northern lights and won’t photograph them correctly. You have to take the wheel yourself.

ISO Value

With ISO, the rule is: as much as necessary, as little as possible. The ISO value determines how much the incoming light signals — i.e., the aurora — are electronically amplified. This amplification is what makes it possible to photograph the northern lights at all.

However, the higher the amplification, the more likely you are to get image noise. ISO 6400 is the maximum you should use to keep your photos from getting too grainy.

Shutter Speed

The northern lights are always in motion — like curtains blowing in the wind. A short shutter speed helps prevent the aurora from blurring too much. “Short” in this case means roughly 1 to 5 seconds.

If you like the blurred effect, you can of course use a longer exposure to enhance it even further.

A shorter shutter speed also renders stars as sharp points. Since the Earth is rotating, a longer exposure will make the stars appear as small streaks. That can actually look beautiful in a nighttime sky without northern lights, but here it tends to be more of a distraction.

Aperture

The aperture ensures that as much light from the aurora as possible reaches your sensor, even with a short shutter speed and a low ISO value.

Your best bet is to use an aperture of f/1.4 to f/2.8. At these settings the aperture is wide open, allowing plenty of light to hit the sensor.

White Balance

Set the white balance manually, since the automatic white balance can get confused at night.

With manual white balance you ensure that the colors of the northern lights are reproduced accurately. 3500–4500 Kelvin is a rough guideline.

Alternatively, try one of the preset symbols and see how the colors change. The incandescent bulb symbol should give your photos a cooler tone. Just experiment and see what looks best to you.

Focus

Focus should also be set to manual. Your camera will struggle to lock onto any point in the darkness, so it’s best to take over yourself.

The easiest way to check sharpness is on your display. Take a test shot, then zoom into the preview to see whether everything is in focus. Some cameras even let you zoom into the live view while composing the shot.

Image Stabilizer

If you’re using a tripod, make sure to turn off the image stabilizer. It can sometimes mistakenly try to correct movement even when there is none, which can actually introduce camera shake.

If you want to dive deeper into the subject, we have a great book recommendation for you. Glenn Rendall’s book is all about night photography.

He also goes into detail about how to photograph the northern lights — covering lens and camera selection, camera settings, and much more.

To the book on Amazon

Composition When Photographing the Northern Lights

The most important factor for your perfect northern lights photo is composition. Good composition lets you emphasize the aurora and guide the viewer’s eye through the image.

Scout the Area During the Day

Head out during the day — or just before dark — to scout good photo spots and figure out how you want to arrange the elements in your shot.

That way you won’t have to guess at night which framing might work well with the northern lights.

Photographing the Northern Lights in Proportion

The sky is obviously the main subject. But you should frame it in relation to the surroundings.

If there are mountains on the horizon, try to include them in your shot. The sense of scale is what really shows just how massive the northern lights are.

Use Water Reflections

Lakes or the ocean are also great elements to include. When the water is calm, you get a perfect mirror and twice the northern lights to enjoy.

Even when the water is choppy, you’ll get beautiful color effects, and the long exposure will smooth out the surface.

Adding Depth to Your Northern Lights Photo

In general, it’s always a good idea to divide photos into foreground, middle ground, and background. This gives the image a sense of spatial depth.

Photos are two-dimensional, and it can sometimes be hard to judge distances and proportions correctly. This is especially true in wide-angle photography. When you have elements at every level of the image, our brains can process the information more easily.

You could place a person in the foreground, gazing up at the northern lights in wonder. Maybe there’s a tree nearby. Behind them, a lake stretches out, and beyond that, mountains fade into a brilliantly glowing sky.

Photographing the Northern Lights with Your Smartphone

Smartphones have come a long way in photography. Portraits, landscape shots, and panoramas — nothing seems too difficult for your phone’s camera.

Night photography is still a challenge for smartphones, though. If you really want to photograph the northern lights with your phone, we recommend using the preset for night photos.

Your smartphone will automatically choose the best settings to take good photos in low light. This way you can capture the aurora too.

On some smartphones you can even adjust the settings manually. In that case, you can refer to the camera settings for northern lights photography mentioned above.

One thing that will definitely help you photograph the northern lights with your iPhone or smartphone is a tripod. There’s a huge selection available for smartphones, and they’re usually quite affordable.

Aurora photos taken with your smartphone probably won’t hold up as large-format prints. But for sharing on Instagram and similar platforms, your phone’s camera should be more than enough.

If you have the choice, we’d still recommend using a mirrorless or DSLR camera. These cameras have a larger sensor that’s much better suited for night photography — letting you fully enjoy the experience of photographing the northern lights.

Making the Northern Lights Glow with Photo Editing

Post-processing with professional software is a topic for advanced users, but you can also edit northern lights photos with simple tools right on your phone.

If possible, shoot in RAW format and edit the images afterward. If RAW doesn’t mean anything to you right now, you can stick with JPG.

In short: RAW files give you more room to work with in post-processing because they’re larger and contain more image data. JPG files are already compressed and offer less flexibility for adjustments.

JPGs of your northern lights can easily be edited on your smartphone. We like using the app Snapseed. It’s a very clean and free tool available for Android and iOS.

Quick tip: Start by sliding the highlights up to make the northern lights brighter. At the same time, darken the shadows so the lights stand out more. Finally, boost the saturation a little for vibrant colors.

Still looking for the right photo editing software? Check out our comparison of the best photo editing programs.

The Best Countries and Places to See the Northern Lights

Haven’t planned a trip yet and want to start now? Here’s where and when to find the most stunning aurora displays.

Some of the top destinations include Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Iceland is also famous for the northern lights. In Canada, we’ve personally seen and photographed the aurora in Jasper National Park. Alaska is another great option.

And the southern lights? In Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Tasmania there are regions where you can see the Aurora Australis.

Overall, your chances of seeing the northern lights are better in the Northern Hemisphere.

Photographing the Northern Lights in Germany

Why wait until you’re in Norway, Iceland, or somewhere else to photograph the northern lights? You can start practicing night photography right now.

Okay, northern lights are pretty rare in Germany. But in recent years there have been occasional opportunities to spot them even there.

Otherwise, stars and city lights are always available. Try photographing them at night so you’re prepared when the real thing happens.

Germany has what are known as dark sky parks. These are especially dark locations where you can try your hand at astrophotography — capturing the stars of the night sky.

It’s the perfect practice run for aurora photography, and you can do it in summer at comfortable temperatures in a t-shirt.

Map of dark sky parks across Germany and Europe

You can also try it on the quiet streets of your city and photograph the street lights. It’s a great way to get a feel for which settings work in low light, and you’ll learn how to operate your camera by feel.

When Is the Best Time to Photograph the Northern Lights?

You can photograph the northern lights mainly during the cold, dark months, between September and March. In the Southern Hemisphere it’s the opposite — your best chances there are between March and August.

Either way, you can only see the aurora at night, and ideally in a remote location. You may have heard of light pollution.

Large cities emit a lot of light from street lamps, billboards, and windows. This light drowns out the night sky — and with it the northern lights — making them much harder to see.

Note: On this map you can look up the darkest places in the world.

Weather Forecast for the Northern Lights

Always check the weather forecast in advance, because you won’t be able to see the aurora well in cloudy conditions or around a full moon.

There are also dedicated northern lights forecasts, usually found on local websites. Accurate predictions are only really reliable about 30 minutes out, though. Alternatively, there are global weather apps for your smartphone — for example, the free app My Aurora for Android and iOS.

Enjoying the Northern Lights

Our most important tip to close things out. Before you pour all your energy into how to photograph northern lights, take a few minutes to simply enjoy the spectacle in the sky on your own — no technology, no distractions.

When we saw the northern lights in Canada for the very first time, we were simply awestruck by this breathtaking and completely otherworldly natural phenomenon.