How to Photograph Your Northern Lights Trip to Abisko

Any northern lights trip, especially one taken to Abisko, the holy grail of the aurora borealis in northern Sweden, will undoubtedly be remembered forever. However, a visitor should have more than just images in their head to return with from their northern lights trip. If you take the proper photography considerations into account, a northern lights trip to Abisko’s Aurora Sky Station will leave you with lasting images that show planet Earth’s stunning beauty. Here’s how you can capture your moments in Earth’s Auroras for eternity:

• Try to find a camera with a bulb mode function, self-timer (or cable release) and manual focus option to take with you on your northern lights trip if possible. If the camera has a wide-angle lens, and if you can also pack a tripod, then the photographs will come out substantially better since these pieces of equipment allow for more of a panoramic and stable shot.
• Set the camera’s film speed to ISO 400 or higher. This baseline setting will allow your camera to retain the most amount of light in the photograph while simultaneously still producing a crisp image. Be careful not to overdo it though increasing your film speed. While higher film speed always captures more light, it compromises clarity at higher speeds as well. When you find the right balance, you will be able to take home with you extraordinary pictures of your northern lights trip to share with family and friends.
• Make sure that your camera’s batteries are fully charged, and bring extras if you have them. The absolutely last thing you want to have happen is to be underneath the miraculous beauty of the aurora borealis but unable to document the experience because of something so silly like a flat battery camera.
• Bring a headlamp to help you set up your gear, and try and obtain one that has a red lens setting. This will help you preserve your night vision because photoreceptor cells (rods) in the retina of the human eye are less sensitive to red light.
• Be careful about how close your breath is in relation to different parts of your camera. If you mistakenly breathe on the viewfinder, lenses, or LCD screen, they will fog up very quickly in cold temperatures and possibly impede your shot. Many amateur photographers have returned home in disappointment after a northern lights trip when they forgot to take into account the effect of the cold air.
• Exposure times, or the amount of light your camera is able to capture in an image, will vary depending on your ISO settings, aperture and lens. Take a photo, look at your LCD screen or histogram, and then make the proper adjustments from there. Gradually increase any of the settings as you see best.

If you follow these steps, you are guaranteed to make your northern lights trip to Abisko’s Aurora Sky Station one that can be remembered for a lifetime.

Kevin Collins is the director of Aurora Nights, a company offering a select range of once in a lifetime northern lights trips in Swedish Lapland and Iceland, with accommodation including the fabulous Ice Hotel. Aurora Nights is part of Weekend a la Carte, a passionate, family-run company with vast in-depth knowledge based on their extensive travels to the region of the Aurora Borealis.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.