The Light Fantastic

Canon 80D
Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX II 11-16mm f2.8
Shot at 11mm, f2.8, 3.2s at ISO 400.

On the first night of my first visit to northern Norway in February last year I drove out to this location, the bridge to Sommaroy, in the hope of capturing the aurora. I didn’t have to wait long for the dancing lights to appear. I'd been shooting for a little while before I came upon this angle using the road and guard rail as leading lines to both the bridge and the aurora. It was another week before I saw the aurora again but this remains my favourite aurora image to date.

In processing in LR5 I warmed the colour temperature and slightly raised the exposure, contrast, clarity, vibrance, tone curve and green luminance. I also applied a little sharpening and noise reduction.