About the Image(s)

So, this last September I saw my first aurora and in early November I saw my second one. I was on a photo trip with 12 others organized by National Parks at Night to the Bisti Badlands and Shiprock in northern New Mexico. Shiprock is a volcanic remnant, formed about 30 million years ago. The structure is sacred to the Navajo people and stands out as a striking landmark visible from afar. While at Shiprock, one of our group leaders noticed that behind us to the north an aurora was showing. So, we packed up our gear and moved to the south side and took photos. This photo was taken with my Nikon D850 camera, iso 500, 15mm, f/2.8, 10 sec exposure. In Lightroom, I straightened and cropped the original, adjusted the tone and presence sliders, used denoise, removed a airplane track, and muted the town lights to the right. These lights are from the town of Shiprock some 3 miles away as the crow flies; I thought about removing them but decided that they are part of the scene.