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How To Photograph The Aurora Borealis With KASE Filters UK....

Writer's picture: Kat LawmanKat Lawman

Updated: Jun 12, 2024


KASE FILTERS UK


GARETH MON JONES AND KAT LAWMAN
GARETH MON JONES AND KAT LAWMAN

After the recent excitement of the Northern Lights showing all around Britain we asked Kase Pro's, Gareth Mon Jones & Kat Lawman for a guide on how to shoot the Aurora Borealis.



Get some top tips from these night sky experts to help you capture the fantastic light show mother nature provides.








Photographing the wonders of the night sky has never been more enjoyable than it is with your partner. Not to mention there’s always another person to make sure you haven’t forgotten important pieces of kit…or if nothing else, a healthy bit of competition when it comes to who gets the best shot of the night from the same location!


I’m sure many of you will remember the night of May 10th 2024, when we was all treated to the strongest geomagnetic storm in over 2 decades. The G5 storm amazed many star gazers when it put on a vibrant and colour display of the Aurora Borealis over the entire United Kingdom, including places where it is very rare to capture a glimpse of the Northern Lights.


We were lucky enough to capture natures very own light show from way down in the south of England, at Old Harrys Rocks in Dorset. It truly was the most magical night; one we won’t forget in a long time.


Kat- Sony A7III, Sony 20 mm Lens Gareth - Sony A7IV, Sony 16-35 lens  F2.2 / ISO2000 / 8 Seconds 16mm / F4 / ISO1600 / 10 Seconds

If you’re not too sure on where to start when planning to photograph the Northern Lights, then we would like to share some useful information with you to help get you on your way.


According to the space weather prediction centre, the best auroras occur an hour or 2 of midnight.


There are a whole host of useful apps available to help you get Aurora updates, in particular, the ones we use are as follows: Space Weather Live, Aurora, Glendale and the NOAA website.


These all have aurora forecasts and will show the. KP index, this will determine how likely you are of seeing the aurora at your latitude. The higher the KP index, the more chance you will have of photographing them.


The first thing you will need to consider before heading out to photograph the Northern Lights is the weather, particularly the cloud cover. You will need to have clear night skies without a bright moon for optimal viewing.


As well as the main weather forecasts, a useful app is "Good to Stargaze"; which gives you information on cloud cover, light pollution, and visibility in your location. You want to find the darkest skies possible, away from the town lights. To combat light pollution, we both recommend using the Kase Neutral Light filter.


This filter works by reducing the orange sodium glow that is associated with old style street and residential lighting. It filters this light source, reducing the amount that reaches your cameras sensor.


Before you head out, make sure that you have set your camera to RAW format. This will  enable you capture all the data available in the highlights and shadows.


This is fundamental for post processing night photography images. We would also recommend you set your white balance to around 3700K to capture a natural looking scene. However, if you’re camera is in RAW format, this can be adjusted later on in post processing to suit your taste.

Gareth - Nikon Z6, Nikon 20mm Lens at F2.5 / ISO 4000 /10 Seconds

14 image panorama - 2 rows of 7



Equipment you will need for photographing the Northern Lights


DSLR/Mirrorless camera/modern camera phone with pro mode- full frame cameras are the best as they enable you to capture more light at night time.


A Wide-angle lens is ideal for capturing foreground elements into your shot. It will make your photograph more interesting than just shooting straight up into the sky.


A focal length between 12mm and 24mm would be ideal. You will need a fast lens to let in more light. Which would ideally be an aperture of F2.8 or wider.


Sturdy tripod, you don’t want your camera to be moving around or be unstable during your long exposures


A head torch so you can see what you are doing and where you are going. It’s always an important piece of kit, and probably the most common forgotten item on our list!



Composition and focusing at night


Once you have decided on a focal length of lens, have a think about composition. To make your image interesting and unique we would recommend you make use of your foreground surroundings, like trees and mountains.


Make sure you are away from the light pollution caused by towns and cities for best viewing. You could even try to capture the reflection of the aurora in a still, tranquil lake or set your timer to do a classic northern lights selfie shot!


Be sure your points of interest are facing north, so you will be able to capture the northern lights overhead.


So, you're now in your location, praying to the aurora gods for a vibrant show. Because it is dark, you will not be able to use the auto focus function on your lens, so you will need to focus manually. Also, if your camera has a live view LCD screen, make sure this is on.


Set the lens to infinity focus. You should be able to see a picture of the figure of 8 infinity symbol marked on your focus ring. This is a good place to start. If you have a live view screen, pick a bright star that is visible and you should be able to zoom in and out.


Manually adjust the focus ring until the star is sharp. It is in focus when it is at its smallest point.


We both also like to use a function called ‘focus peaking’. With this turned on, it will display several red dots on the live view screen.


When you manually adjust the focus ring, the focus peaking dots will aid you with the depth of focus quickly & efficiently.


If you are an owner of a Sony A7III, like Kat, and a Sony A7IV like Gareth, then you have a further option called 'Bright Monitoring' - this option is a game changer for composing your shots at night and will allows you to increase the light gathering capabilities and render a super bright picture on the live view screen, all at the press of a button! Magical.


Gareth always like to capture the whole scene, by photographing a multi row panorama. The whole arch of the aurora can be photographed using this method. With his camera in portrait orientation, he needs to move quickly to capture around 3 rows of 7 shots.


Adding a human element to these compositions will give scale to an image and make for an interesting composition.

Gareth - Sony A7IV, Sony 16-35 Lens

16 mm / F2.8 / ISO2500 / 5 Seconds

21 Images, 3 rows of 7



Set the ISO, Aperture and Exposure length


You want your lens to be at the widest aperture setting, to allow as much light in as possible.


An aperture of F2.8 or wider is ideal for night photography. To make sure you have set your focus correctly and you are happy with your composition, you can take a high ISO test shot.


To do this we normally set our ISO to around 25,000 and take a shot of a few seconds. Just long enough to show a bright picture of what we are looking at on the live view screen, so we can adjust focus and reposition if needed.


An ideal guide for ISO settings at night to capture the aurora would be between ISO1600 & ISO6400.


The higher the ISO the noisier (grainier) the shot will be. So, try and keep this is as low as possible, being sure not to blow out any highlights. Don’t worry to much if you do need to use a higher ISO as noise reduction can be dealt with in post processing.


The most important setting for you to use to utilise will be your shutter speed. Try exposure times from anywhere between 0.5 seconds up to 20 seconds. This will all depend on the light conditions that the aurora is giving out. If the Aurora is quite weak and not visible to the naked eye, then try a long shutter speed between 10 and 20 seconds. If you can see a more vibrant aurora with pillars of light or fast-moving patterns, then use a much shorter shutter speed, try anywhere between 0.5 and 10 seconds - you will want to freeze the pillars and shapes.


Photographing the northern lights can be challenging and exciting, so have fun and experiment with ISO and exposure length until you are happy with the look of the shot. Also, don’t be afraid to put your camera into portrait orientation to capture more of that dancing sky! It is also very important to check the histogram after you have taken your shots, make sure you are not blowing out highlights or clipping any of the blacks. It should be slightly positioned to the left for the best exposure.

Kat - Sony A7III & Sony 20 mm Lens

F2.2 / ISO3200 / 10 Seconds



Post processing your images


If you wish to make edits to your image, then using programs like Lightroom and Photoshop will be extremely useful. If your camera is set to RAW format, this will enable you to correct white balance and improve other aspects of your image in post processing. One of the main challenges when photographing at night is noise, due to the use of high ISO settings.


Lightroom now has a denoise feature option available but use it sparingly to maintain the detail in the photograph. The luminance sliders will also help with noise reduction. It is worth playing around with the different options until you like the look of your photograph.


If you have shot your image in RAW format you will also benefit from adding some contrast and saturation to your image. Perhaps a little increase of the exposure of your foreground will make it more visible and bring out some further details.






Will we be lucky enough to ever witness another G5 solar storm any time soon? Who knows?!…. but we are currently in the middle of the suns 11 year solar cycle and will hopefully enjoy this solar maximum period for a little while longer yet…



GOOD LUCK & HAPPY AURORA CHASING!



Kat & Gareth

Gareth - Sony A7IV, Sony 16-35mm lens

16mm / F2.8 / ISO4000 / 2.5 seconds.



Kat - Sony A7III, Sony 20mm lens

F2.2 / ISO2000 / 10 seconds








KASE WOLVERINE 10MM LIGHT POLUTION FILTER (NEUTRAL LIGHT)




Available for Square systems


K8 / K9 / Armour









KASE REVOLUTION LIGHT POLLUTION (NEUTRAL NIGHT) 95MM




Available for Circular Systems


Revolution / Magnetic











Key Features


The Kase Wolverine Light Pollution (Neutral Night) filters are your perfect companion for night time photography, both astrophotography and cityscape images. The filter works by reducing the orange sodium glow that is associated with old style street and residential lighting. It filters this light source, reducing the amount that reaches your camera’s sensor.

Examples of use for this filter is when capturing astrophotography in an area with less than perfect light pollution, the filter can help reduce the orange glow that can blight a good milky way or stars shot. Another great use of this filter is for cityscape shots, you will notice it reduces greatly the glare of sodium lights in your scene.

  • Toughened Pro HD Optical Glass

  • Reduces Sodium Light Pollution

  • Scratch Resistant

  • Metallic Nano Coatings

  • Water and Dust/Dirt Repellent

  • Easy Clean







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