OT: More Northern Lights

I headed up to Yellowknife, Canada in September to photograph the northern lights again. I missed out on the Colorado fall colors, but found some nice, if different, colors here...this one was from my first night there. This lights sort of resembled an eagle in flight.

Processing these can be difficult, so C&C is welcome.

This was towards the end of the trip when the moon was out to illuminate this pier.

One of the brightest displays I saw...

This was a wide, 180 degree stitched image...

And one more...

Great images! I particularly like #3. Looks like you caught a meteor or similar too in #5 (mid-left a little above the tree).

Wow Grant: Those are awesome captures, thanks for sharing.

WHOA!! Wow! Very nice!!!! That first one is incredible!

1&3 stand out to me of these shown. All are real nice though. The stars in #1 look a little blue. Looks like you traded up from fall colors.

#1 is Spectacular! Yep, I see the Eagle. #3 is also damn nice. Nice post. I agree with Doug about the blue - but dont lose the aurora!

Hmm, well I guess this more than makes up for missing fall colors. I love all of them. That pano is pretty nice as well. Very inspiring to get me to save my pennies and head up that way. Beautiful work.

Great image Grant!! Just added to my Bucket list thanks to you!

Grant, these are some of the best pictures of the Northern Lights that I have seen! Impossible to pick a favorite, thank for sharing.

Envious! What settings are you using? Yellowknife seems like a good choice, how did you get up there? Fly?

Wow!! Awsome set Grant!
I love the inclusion of the water and reflections.
I'd love it if you could give some techs on how these were taken.
Congrats! I'd trade this for fall colors anytime!

Grant, I think these are the best NL images I've ever seen. All are incredible, but there's a certain simplicity about No. 2 with the dock that I like. Thanks for posting these wonderful photos.

Spectacular! Images just cannot do the aurora justice.

Totally amazing

These are some of the most spectacular aurora shots I've ever seen!

Thanks for the comments! Most of these were shot at f2.8, 15 seconds, ISO 6400 at 14mm with my Nkkor 14-24. That lens is invaluable for photographing the northern lights.

I did fly up to Yellowknife, with a stopover in Calgary. It was only about 4 1/2 hours flight time from Denver and is the least amount of flying you can do to get to a prime spot for the northern lights. The tickets were expensive, though. There's not a ton of scenery around Yellowknife but there are a ton of lakes, making for lots of opportunities for reflections.

I saw that there's now a non-stop flight to Iceland from Denver that's only a little over $500. That might be the cheapest option for seeing the northern lights. Iceland is slightly south of the ideal spot for the lights, but with all the spectacular scenery, I'm sure it's well worth it. Wiseman, Alaska, where I went in March, is also spectacular. That required a flight and pricey rental car with a 5-hour drive. So it wasn't cheap.

I can only echo the others in saying that these are some of the finest aurora photos that I''ve ever seen.
Your 'development' looks pitch perfect to me. ISO 6400?! Not sure if you went that far with the 5DII. You pretty pleased with your new camera?
Anyway, truly remarkable work, Grant. Hope you sell a ton of these images!

LOVE #2, and the pano especially! The sky color in #1 looks a bit funky (blue stars) otherwise this is a super collection, Grant!

Hey John, I really like the new camera. I did shoot ISO 6400 at night with the 5DII. Most night shots are too underexposed at ISO 1600 so you get better quality at 6400, as getting the exposure right is the most important thing. That being said, I really like the D800e. I can definitely notice the improved quality at night and plan to print one or two of the above images at 30x45.

Wow. Awesome shots! Hard to pick a favorite. I'm going to Iceland in March (on the aforementioned new direct flight) and hope to come home with a few images that approach these! Thanks for the settings info. Having never shot the NL before, I was going to guess and go from there.

Thanks for the response on getting there. I am looking at the Iceland package deal and will probably go.