Chasing Auroras EP261
September 2, 2026
"The more I reflect on it, the more I realize that this aurora borealis event was the most joyful moment of the decade. It brought people together, encouraged them to spend time outdoors, and gave us a unique and extraordinary spectacle of nature." - Eric
Life is a series that can lead to spectacular results.
Between May and October 2024, we made 13 attempts to create light-painting images with the northern lights at mid-latitudes. Auroras were visible during six of those sessions, not always to the naked eye, but at least for our cameras! That aurora-chasing season resulted in 10 final images.
Aurora chasing does not guarantee anything. Sometimes you drive for hours, arrive at the location, wait in the cold, and nature changes its mind.
But when everything comes together, it feels unreal.
The challenge of shooting auroras with tube light painting
Shooting tube light painting with auroras is one of the most complex combinations we've tried so far.
Why? Because auroras dance.
They are a subject that can change brightness, shape, and position quickly during a single session. That means the composition that worked five minutes ago may not work anymore. The settings that looked right for the background exposure a few images ago may suddenly be too bright or too dark.
In a regular night scene, once the background exposure is dialed in, the rest of the image becomes much easier to control. With auroras, the background can change quite a lot depending on how active they are.
That were the predictions on our way to our very first attempt: High Aurora activity. We were excited but had to idea what to expect!
Planning
Before each attempt, we watched the aurora forecast, cloud cover, and moon phase as closely as we could to decide whether it was worth it to pack our gear and leave for the night.
Once we were on location, though, we often had no cell service. That meant no live webcam, no 15-minute forecast updates, so no easy way to know if stronger activity was coming. We would keep creating until we were too cold to continue, watching the sky and adjusting based on what our camera could see.
Camera settings
As usual: expose for the background first, then adjust the light-painting brightness.
If the aurora is faint, you may need a longer exposure time. If it becomes brighter or starts moving quickly, a shorter exposure time can help keep more texture in the sky. From our experience at mid-latitudes during strong auroral activity, we usually kept exposure times between 5 and 10 seconds, depending on the aurora's intensity.
But if we had been farther north during the same events, with a brighter sky, we would have needed to adjust accordingly, probably with a shorter exposure time. The best starting point is to test the sky, protect the aurora detail, and then adjust the tube brightness to balance it with the background.
Three different sessions, three different camera settings
Composition
At mid-latitudes, the auroras usually appear closer to the northern horizon. That makes composition really important.
Looking for scenes facing north, ideally with a clean horizon line and enough space for the aurora to breathe above the subject, is ideal. In our case, we also wanted reflection. Because why make it simpler when we can aim for more magic?
The stronger the auroras are, the more flexible you can be. But when the lights are low on the horizon, a clean foreground and a clear northern view make a big difference.
Tube colors
Tube color became one of the most interesting and puzzling things to figure out.
I (Kim) thought a pink tone could complement a green sky, and I was doubtful about Eric's intuition of using the Alien tube, which is mostly green and yellow.
We tried many options. Some colors felt off... As usual, we were looking for ways to contrast, complement, and harmonize with the auroras, not to stand out too much. Nobody wants to steal the northern lights show!
Our favorite tubes ended up being Alien and CottonCandy, but we also liked the Pinkish. We eventually made a variation of the CottonCandy specifically for our aurora shoots: CottonCandy-Muted. This version adds a desaturated green tone to the tube, which works great in certain circumstances. Yes, we're getting picky. But color matching with auroras is not simple.
In contrast with most of the blue hour or night sky images we create, we found it very tricky to get a "straight out of the camera" picture with auroras that doesn't require considerable adjustments in post-production. Eric realized that more subtle local color corrections were needed to do justice to the spectacle in the sky.
Two examples of colors that didn't pass the test for us
Making the best of failed attempts
Not every session gave us auroras. Many times, we still created with the conditions we had and practiced our skills. Making the best out of the situation meant shooting during blue hour, working with black canvas, creating under a starry night sky, or staying in the hotel room for a wine & cheese dinner instead.
A few images we created when there was no auroras
After an early morning aurora session, we tried to figure our which animal came close to us in the dark... Was it a fox or coyote?
Enjoying dinner away from home after realizing our last aurora chase of the season was over.
Light painting with auroras doesn't seem to get any easier over time. But once again, we appreciate how the experience gained from working in these complex and challenging circumstances has helped us improve... not only at what we do, but also at navigating other difficult situations.