Breaker Bay Aurora Australis

Breaker Bay Aurora Australis

Over the weekend of the 22nd/23rd April 2017 there was heightened Aurora activity and Wellington was treated to two nights of Aurora Australis displays. I was working Saturday night so couldn’t get out and had to make do with watching the excited reports appearing in the Wellington Aurora Hunters and Aurora Australis Facebook groups. On Sunday night I was able to get out and found my way to the Wellington south coast to find that apparently half of the population of Wellington had also thought the same. Turns out that the chance of seeing the Aurora had been mentioned online and on the evening news and this information quickly spread via social media leading to unusual crowds. After nearly getting stuck in gridlock at the Red Rocks Reserve carpark I drove east along the coast road and eventually found a quiet spot above Breaker Bay to take some photos.

Even above Breaker Bay I wasn’t alone with three University Students joining me to sit and watch the horizon. Ferries entering and leaving Wellington Harbour and aircraft flying in to Wellington Airport ruined any real chance of seeing the Aurora by eye and it didn’t help that I’d arrived and started shooting as the display was peaking but the camera captured some good images. I got enough photos for a short timelapse movie and I finally figured out how to use Lightroom to put the video together (using the tutorial here).

Canon 5D Mark IV, Samyang 14mm @ f2.8, ISO 3200 / 25 seconds (first 12 frames) & ISO 6400 / 13 seconds (the rest)
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