This was taken on a very cold January night in 2021 in northern Norway, way up above the arctic circle. Conditions were quite good other than some wind. I have since changed my approach in terms of settings for photographing the aurora, but I still like this photo despite the soft image.
Specific Feedback Requested
I am providing two images, and I want to know which one looks better generally, as well as how I can improve my processing. The intention is to print it on metal or acrylic on at least 36" for the long edge. I have calibrated my monitor with a spyderX, so have edited each photo to look as good as possible to my eye with that in mind.
So, which one do you like better? Why?
How can I improve this photo overall for printing?
Technical Details
Sony a7iii with Sony FE 24-70mm f2.8 GM lens
ISO 800, f/2.8, and a 5 second exposure
Processing in Lightroom
Hi Amber, this is a totally cool image. I don’t see softness on this smaller web size so not worried there. I personally prefer the first image with a brighter foreground and town. I also think that would print better than the darker one. I think your composition is great, providing a nice bit of grounding in the foreground balanced with the awesome aurora. The only processing comment I have (and it’s certainly a personal preference), would be to tone down the mountains and reflection just to the left of center. That area is pretty bright compared to the rest of the image and tends to pull my eye away from the marvelous aurora.
I am sure this will look awesome as a metal or acrylic print. Excellent image all around.
The aurora is lovely and the stars nicely shaped. It’s purely taste, but I prefer the darker water and the darkening you did of the town lights, but would not extend that into the hills. That’s easy to adjust if you are using a masked layer such as curves. My preference would be for less FG water and more sky, if you have the leeway to change the aspect ratio of your print. With the land mass so centered, it somewhat overpowers the stunning aurora – but the light on it (moonlight?) is also interesting.
I am in awe over the colors and the composition of this image!
I viewed your work on Instagram and those images are awesome as well!
I am a little torn on which image I personally like better but at this point I’m leaning towards to the first one with the brighter reflection.
I’ve been to this area, mostly around Trondheim and north of Trondheim and it is awesome even during the day.
The fjords of northern Norway are breath taking IMHO.
There are a couple of things about this image that I’m having trouble reconciling in my mind.
One is the brightness and the color of the snow on the mountain, the snow samples pure white in some areas and white with a very slight yellow cast in other areas.
The sky is dark blue with the neon green (and those colors are wonderful BTW), but my mind is having trouble figuring out how the snow is so white when the sky is green and blue.
Shouldn’t the snow have a green/blue cast instead of white and white/yellow? It’s almost as though there’s a separate light source for the snow and mountain.
Personally, I feel that adding a slight green/blue cast to the snow would help the viewer make sense of it a little easier. And lowering the brightness of the snow a bit would help to add continuity between the mountain and the sky.
The other thing I keep noticing is the small area at the end of the mountain on the left, that section looks pretty un-saturated? (is that a word?), maybe adding some saturation or darkening it up to the point where you can tell the line between the sky and the horizon and retain some color that goes along with the rest of the image.
I like the darker one too and it may boil down to which one will look better on the print material you mentioned. I would think that a print on metal or acrylic would show the dark areas pretty well (almost as good as it looks on a computer screen or better?)
An hour has passed since I wrote the above part of this message and now I think the dark would be better and the reason is “The star of the show should be the aurora and the mountain”, and the bright FG seems to take away from that.
Love this image and mostly for the composition and the content but also because it reminds me of my trip to Norway, I had a great time on that trip.
David, thank you so much for your response. I will work on your suggestion of toning down the mountains and foreground to the left of center. I think that might help to get more of happy medium for this image as it seems there is a little too much going on, and indeed, the aurora should be the focus.
Diane - thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback. I will play around with the masking and see if I can get a better balance as you suggest - and also see what I might be able to do to better showcase the aurora.
Hi Mervin - thank you so much for your reply, and for checking out my work on IG. I was having some of the same reservations as you point out with the brighter image- thinking that it gets too busy and overwhelms the aurora. I am not sure if that is going to be the case once it is printed or whether without the backlighting (even with calibrated monitor) it would mellow out the foreground a bit and still provide interesting details. Maybe I just need to do some test prints. I will also take your advice with a bit a color corection and see if I can make it a bit more copasetic. There was a mix of warm and cool sources that night, but I am still trying to keep things natural looking even through the enhancements.
I had not noticed the gray area to the left before - thanks for poitning that out. It is actually a low cloud bank out to sea beyond the fjord, but it sort of looks like it does not below in the rest of the image. Maybe some cropping or other correction can address that.
I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed your time in Norway. It is my favorite place in the world, and I have not got tired of photographing here yet. Up north is spectacular in any season.
Here is an edited approach based on the feedback. Mountains less bright white with a bit more of a blue cast but decreasing the shadow in the brown areas just a bit, foreground not nearly as bright but with a little bump in the exposure .
I still am having issues with the gray “unsaturated” clouds on the left side. I added a bit of blue / saturation, but everything else I tried just looked even more out of place. Maybe it will required cropping.
Thanks so much to everyone for all the suggestions- if you have more I would love to try to incorporate before I print.
I worked on the area on the left where the clouds are just to see what needed to be done and I think it should stay there rather than crop it out, that sloped edge really adds to the composition in my opinion.
Check out this version to see if looks it OK to you.
Rather than try to make it look like clouds, I was thinking maybe just make it look like a continuation of the water? It seems to blend in pretty well but if you’re wanting it to look like authentic clouds, it might be a problem because anything brighter or a different color might become a distraction.
If you like it, just mask that area and change the white balance to a cooler temperature (but just for the masked area), then saturate it until it looks the way you want.
Wow, the Norther Lights (easier to say and spell the Aurora verion… ha ha) It’s on my life bucket list! And ways happy to enjoy what folks bring here from their own experiences.
This one i wonderful - if not for the aurora itself, but for the inclusion of the coastal village and reflection. My vote would be for something in between your two original versions. And actually the darker water and lghts of the village stand out more beautifully in the darker version.
Two things that I don’t think have been mentioned. The first being the blue night sky. Now I’ve never seen, so my comment could be out of place, but the blue seems slightly saturated? Hopefully someone can tell me it’s Just like that! The second is rather picky, but I’m wondering about transforming (straightening) the shoreline? Given maybe the wider angle distortion, the shore is bent? Or maybe not since there are many reasons a shore or horizon isn’t exactly a straight line. This is more of an observation.
Beautiful image no matter and should make great print!
I can testify that the sky really is that deep blue color in the northern region of Norway, this is above the arctic circle, I was fortunate enough to see it with my own eyes.
One thing to note is that the arctic is usually void of most atmospheric contaminants like smog, dust and haze and the earth’s atmosphere absorbs and scatters the blue light emitted from the sun (which is why the sky is some shade of blue all over the globe), and with the sun being just below the horizon, the light from the sun travels through approximately 700 miles of clear atmosphere, this is what makes it such a deep blue color.
This time of year it stays almost dark with the sun just under the horizon from one to two months depending on how far you are north of the circle.
It is a very unique experience so if it’s on your bucket list, try to make sure you manage to check that one off. You won’t regret it
Merv- thank you so much for your work on this with the editing suggestion. I agree that the cooler mask looks a lot better and will strive for that. I too was concerned about the composition of the photo if any cropping had to happen. Thanks for helping me to make this a better piece!
Absolutely! You are very welcome!
I’m just happy to know that I could offer a way to help you out.
Thank you so much for the response and the kind words! We all need words of encouragement now and then
Please feel free to ask for guidance using the masking tools or any other software tools, I would be happy to help and…many others here would be equally as enthusiastic and helpful, lots of experience here and we’re all willing to pitch in.
I will work on your suggestion of toning down the mountains and foreground to the left of center. I think that might help to get more of happy medium for this image as it seems there is a little too much going on, and indeed, the aurora should be the focus. 
I will also take your advice with a bit a color corection and see if I can make it a bit more copasetic. There was a mix of warm and cool sources that night, but I am still trying to keep things natural looking even through the enhancements.
