Aurora over Port Suzan Bay w/ revisions

Image Critiques Nightscape & Astro Critiques
1

Revised #1 - decreased Lights and Darks in Tone Curve panel:

20240510-1513
20240510-15132400×1600 2.22 MB

Original #1:

20240510-1513.jpg
20240510-1513.jpg2400×1600 2.33 MB

Revised #2 - slightly decreased Darks and increased Lights in Tone Curve panel:

20240510-1512
20240510-15122400×1600 2.28 MB

Original #2:

20240510-1512.jpg
20240510-1512.jpg2400×1600 1.91 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

My son lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and I’ve tried many times to photograph an aurora. I’ve even paid for guided sessions for photographers, but I’ve always been unlucky. Also, there have been several times when auroras were predicted to be visible from the Seattle area where I live, but that has never come true. Until the night of May 10th. Feeling cynical and skeptical, I didn’t believe it, so I went to bed as normal. I was sound asleep when my wife woke me up all excited and said I HAD to come look. Needless to say, I now, finally, have photos of an aurora!

These photos were taken from my deck looking out over Port Suzan Bay, with Stanwood Washington in the background. I was amazed that it was hovering just over the water. It would have been nice If the aurora was a bit higher since Mt. Baker is directly behind it, but I wasn’t complaining.

Specific Feedback

Since this is my first aurora, I’m not sure about the post processing. The first photo was a 15 second exposure and the 2nd was a 10 second exposure. Post processing was identical in Lightroom Classic only. Here are the details:

Profile - Camera Landscape
White balance - As Shot
Basic panel - Blacks - -19
No other adjustments in Basic Panel
Tone Curve Panel:
Highlights - +49
Lights - +13
Darks - -64
Shadows - -26

Technical Details

D850, 16-35 at 16mm, f4, ISO 800

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2

Steve, you did very well. I like the city lights, the tree silhouettes and the green reflection near bottom center. #2 shows more details in the aurora and feels more like nighttime, but I think some overall brightening (not to the level of #1) might be good.

3

This is gorgeous! I especially like the second image that is a bit darker since it emphasizes the aurora more.

4

@Mark_Seaver and @Denise_Dethlefsen, thank you for your feedback and suggestions! I made changes to both images and posted above.

5

The revisions look excellent!! High drama!

6

Thank you @Diane_Miller!

7

Well that front porch view paid off in spades :slightly_smiling_face:

Wonderful colors Steve, and the foreground binds in a nice perspective. The revisions are probably closer to reality, but my favorite is Original #1.

8

Thanks @John_Williams!

9

Steve, considering this was you first aurora, I think you did a fine job with the post processing! I’m not an expert on aurora photography by any means – only shooting it a half dozen times or so but I found this month’s aurora to be particularly challenging to process. I really struggled getting the white balance and colours looking “right”. Your images look pretty darn good to me!

10

Thanks @Tom_Nevesely! I appreciate the feedback. Hopefully we will both have more opportunities in the near future.

11

@Tom_Nevesely, if the aurora is anything like getting accurate star color, I have read that daylight WB is the right thing to use. Auto is very unreliable unless there is a range of colors in an “average” subject, and then it’s just a calculated guess.

12

I have in my notes that the “best” white balance for Auroras is around 4000K but I don’t think that’s always true. I think it depends a lot on the colours that a particular aurora has. I’ve typically had pretty decent success using 4000K or lower. Above that, the greens feel too warm to me. I guess that for other colours that the ideal colour temperature may need to be higher.

13

@Tom_Nevesely, I doubt there is anything that is even almost always true!! I would have no problem using Selective Color to tweak individual colors, or masking by colors, or even tweaking the color sliders in the Calibration panel in LR. Color is not an absolute, either in a digital capture or in our perception. With film, a profile was built in, but it was arbitrary too.

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