Zina Mirsky
About the Image(s)
On the morning of September 11, NOAA noted a major coronal ejection; this image was taken that night. The sunstorm resulted in heavy and lengthy aurora activity for us to enjoy - we were outside for over four hours just taking one picture after another. This was taken with an Olympus OM-1 mirrorless, 7mm lens, set to almost infinity (my vision is not clear enough for me to focus well but my history with this lens puts "infinity" at just under the infinity mark, and it seems to have worked), 15 seconds, f6.3. ISO was 1600.
I did no editing other than a slight crop at the right side to eliminate headlights in a parking lot. What is most interesting is that my eyes saw this in black and white (second image attached) until we were out a very long time, and my night vision accommodated sufficiently that I could see pale reds and greens.
The camera always captures what the human eye misses. Even without intense colors, the aurora activity was captivating and beautiful in shape and design.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
Wow - 4 hours of watching this must have been amazing. I take some night photography and sometimes your only options are to set the focus at infinity. I think your camera setting are correct. The only thing I might have done would be to adjust the vertical in the manual transformations to straighten the trees and run a denoise program for finish. Other than that, I bet it was a night to remember.   Posted: 10/09/2024 17:54:08
  Posted: 10/14/2024 17:39:15
Very nice shots (I also liked the B&W version). We were supposed to see the Aurora here in CT, but alas at least where I live I could not see anything. Too much ambient light, maybe? Re: straightening the vertical, with a 7mm lens I suspect that is simply not possible...it's the trade-off you make for the extreme wide angle. I have no experience with night sky shots, with or without the Aurora, so I really can't offer any constructive comments apart from liking the shots.   Posted: 10/16/2024 00:18:46