Chasing the Aurora Australis – Photofocus

Recently, I did something I have never done before: photographed the Aurora Australis. It’s similar to the Aurora Borealis but it happens Down Under! Not normally visible to the naked eye, usually captured in camera. We had a major coronal ejection and solar flares this week which caused the aurora to light up. Apparently, the peak was about 5 a.m. yesterday (I was sound asleep), but we headed out to capture it last week.

Where

We headed to the Southernmost tip of mainland Australia (Victoria) closest to where we live. Flinders. Although we could have gone to various locations around the Mornington Peninsula. We need to head South to catch the action, but we also wanted to get as far away from light pollution as we could. We stayed here for a couple of hours and then moved to another spot much further along. We had an interesting foreground with the old Kilcunda Bridge, but the Aurora had faded off and we had a lot of light pollution.

When

We headed out at sunset (missed an amazing sunset too) we wanted to get to our location just after the blue hour when it was dark. Our first location had too many lights, so we headed along the coast to Flinders Lookout. We found a LOT of people there capturing the aurora with varying degrees of success. So we grabbed our gear and set up too.

How

Using my Sony 16-35mm lens on my Sony A7RIII on a tripod. I shot at ISO 3200, f/4.0 (minimum my lens does at 16mm), 20 seconds shutter speed. After seeing what we were capturing, a few others asked for help and a mini-photography class happened (I am always in teaching mode). So many happy beginners getting some terrific shots.

Why

I had never attempted photographing an aurora before. I have photographed the night sky before, but I never seem to be in the right place at the right time. Add to the fact that it is usually occurring in the wee early hours of the morning, while I am asleep. And for some weird reason, midweek! The fates aligned that night, with mild temperatures after a lovely Autumn day. No clouds, and the Aurora happening at 7 pm. There was a public holiday the next day so I could sleep in. Like I said, fate.

Post-processing

Are these the most amazing photos of the Aurora Australis? Probably not. Did I have the most amazing location? Probably not. Were my settings the best they could be? I think I did OK for the first time. Was my focus on point? Sadly no. I can shoot in the dark with my Sony, but it is extremely difficult to focus on nothing!

So post-processing? Bumped up the contrast, shadows, and whites. Dropped the Highlights and blacks a little. Boosted the Vibrance just a touch and then ran through Denoise in Lightroom. That new feature does a pretty good job.

So why am I sharing all this?

I believe there is always an opportunity to learn. Trying something new and out of our element is fun and exciting and quite frankly I was pretty happy with my images.