I surprised myself by making an effort last night. There was half a chance to see some auroras and now that the weather has turned for the warmer, I thought it’s worth a try. Even if the wind was really bad so I knew that any trees I would put in the frame would be fuzzy in the long exposures, and there was absolutely no moonlight whatsoever to help out lighten the foreground and sky. Not that I really minded the lack of light on the foreground because I don’t have any good ones which would be worth lighting up. In fact, you could see some snow detail in the original pictures but I put a ruthless gradient on it to hide it. Just not worth seeing.

I got to my spot a bit too late and the light was gradually fading as I was standing there. The first frames still show some traditional aurora features (very little) but in the last frames it’s only a faint glow that was barely visible with naked eye, but the long exposure helps to bring it out in the picture.

The biggest lesson I learned last night is that my foreground sucks. I can’t find any spot within an easy walking distance from home that would offer a nice foreground for the aurora. So now I have to find a nice place I could reach by car (and quickly).

But I’ll say this about the dark night. There sure are a lot of stars in the sky!