Mesmerising Aurora appear near the two poles, as the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in the northern hemisphere, and the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) in the southern hemisphere. They are an incredible natural phenomenon on most people’s travel or nature bucket lists. However, they are elusive and hard to see with the naked eye, making them even more special when you do see them. To ensure that you experience the Aurora, and capture the moment, when travel planning your winter break in Tromso make sure to book a Northern Lights photography tour. Here’s what to expect…
PHOTO CREDIT – The featured photograph for this blog was taken by Oskar from Arctic Breeze, Tromso
Table of Contents
Firstly, what are the Aurora?
So, before you attempt to photograph the Northern Lights, you need to know what you’re looking at…
As a non-scientist, I’m including information from a reliable source to answer this question, namely The Royal Observatory’s Astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Museums, London (www.rmg.co.uk) as follows:
- Solar storms on the sun’s surface give out huge clouds of electronically charged particles.
- Some of these particles become trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field and are pulled down into the atmosphere, towards the North and South Poles.
- These electronically charged particles bump into gases in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and heat up, then emitting beautiful coloured lights in the sky.
Colours of the Aurora
When heated, different gases emit different colours. As there are different gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, namely oxygen and nitrogen, then these contribute to different colours in the Aurora:
- Oxygen emits green light when heated.
- Nitrogen emits purple, blue, and pink light when heated.
- Very high-altitude oxygen may lead to bright red lights in the Aurora.
- Reds and purples are the least common Aurora colours to see.
Shapes of the Aurora
The Aurora will typically present as wavy patterns, or flowing curtains of light, across the sky. There are several different shapes which you might see, including:
- Arcs or Bands – arcs appear as thin green strips, often stretching across the horizon. Bands are like arcs, but with more curves. They are usually a sign that the lights are waking up.
- Drapes – appear when multiple arcs appear in fast moving, curtain-like waves. Pink and purple sometimes appear on the edges.
- Rays – appear like vertical streaks of upwards light, like search beams. These are formed in periods of high solar activity when arcs curl up on themselves.
- Spirals – a rare shape that curls into a rotating pattern, usually appearing during stronger solar wind events.
- Corona – if lights shoot out in every direction when you look up into the sky, like a converging crown, that’s a corona. It forms when the aurora is overhead.
If you see more than one Aurora shape in a night, then geomagnetic activity was strong.
The Aurora Oval
Did you know that there’s an Aurora Oval? Neither did I until taking this trip, but there’s an Aurora Oval which covers a band of latitude from around 65 to 72° North and in this band, auroral activity is more frequent.
Tromso sits in the middle of that band which is why it is one of the primary places to see Northern Lights, along with other places in the band such as Abisko, Sweden and Finnish Lapland. As the earth spins, Tromso comes within the oval between 6.00pm and 2.00am.
Expectation management
It is worth mentioning at the outside that Aurora usually look better through camera lenses, than to the naked eye. The Northern Lights can appear faintly in the sky, but then look intense through a camera lens as our eyes don’t see colours well at night.
That said, sometimes you will be doubly lucky: (1) to see the Northern Lights, and (2) to see them clearly with the naked eye!
Which tour should you take for Northern Lights Photography?
There are lots of different Northern Lights tours on offer in Tromso, falling broadly into two types:
- Dedicated Northern Lights photography tours, where you are driven around safari style to try and find the Aurora.
- Northern Lights experiences, where Aurora viewing might be combined with another activity, such as husky sledding or visit to a Sami reindeer farm.
If your goal is to concentrate on seeing the Northern Lights, then I would suggest taking a dedicated Northern Lights safari. There are two options here:
- Tours with photographers as guides – the guides take great photos of the Northern Lights, and you (if you want to be in the photos). However, they also help you set up your cameras if you want to take your own photos.
- Tours specifically designed to teach you how to take photos of the Northern Lights.
We booked the Tromso: Northern Lights Pioneer tour with a photographer guide via the Get Your Guide App, as follows.
The Northern Lights Pioneer Tour with Arctic Breeze
What to expect on the tour
Pre Tour – good information was provided before the tour about what to bring with you – several layers of warm clothing, hats, gloves and winter boots, hand and toe warmers, water and snacks. Note – some of the Northern Lights Photography Tours ask you to take your passport with you in case they need to chase the Aurora into Finland (not relevant on our tour).
They advised wearing colourful clothes (such as jackets, hats, scarves or earmuffs) which would look good in front of the Northern Lights in photographs.
Setting off – Our meeting point was at The Dock 69° 39 Hotel by 18.20pm, where we were met by a host of guides in orange Get Your Guide jackets with clipboards. Having been allocated a guide (and photographer) called Oskar, we then boarded our minibus and headed out of town.
Safety – we were advised to wear our seatbelts in the minibus, in case of any ice on the road, or wildlife wandering out into the path of the vehicle which might lead to sudden breaking.
Staying warm – a tip we picked up from our Arctic Fjords Tour was to take your outer coats, hats and gloves off when you’re on the minibus to avoid overheating. If your body starts to sweat, then when it cools down, you will get colder when you goback outside.
Foot and hand warmers for your gloves and boots were a blessing and helped keep us cosy when standing around in the snow viewing and photographing the lights!
Thermal suits were available in the van for those who needed them, but the weather conditions did not necessitate this on our tour.
For ideas on staying warm whilst on your Northern Lights tour, read my blog What to pack for a trip to Tromso in winter.
Stops on the tour – we travelled for about 30 minutes out into the countryside. Oskar was watching for signs of the Aurora appearing and checking for Aurora activity updates with The Arctic University of Norway in Tromso, the World’s Northernmost University.
We stopped somewhere in the countryside (I’ve not idea where) and piled excitedly out of the van. At first our eyes could not see anything in the sky, but then a faint tower of pale green light appeared. Through our phones and cameras, the Northern Lights appeared much stronger.
Professional photographs – Oskar set up his camera and took photos of the Aurora for us. He then asked if anyone wanted their photo taken in front of the lights – there was plenty of time to have multiple photos taken throughout the evening. It was all very casual and relaxed.
The beauty of having a professional photographer on the trip is that you’re much more likely to leave with some good shots of the Aurora if the lights appear. I’m so glad we did this as taking photos on your phone or long exposure shots on your camera is tricky, and not foolproof!
Taking your own photographs – some tips for taking your own photographs…
Taking photos of the Northern Lights on your phone:
- Turn off flash and live mode.
- Use the ‘Night’ mode on your Camera function (IOS phone).
- Experiment with the exposure settings from 2 seconds up to 10 seconds to see what sort of photos you can capture.
- Holding your phone as still as possible to avoid blurry images, or even better, rest your phone on a surface whilst you take the photo. You could use a mini mobile phone tripod if you have one for stability.
Taking photos of the Northern Lights on your SLR camera:
- Use a wide-angle lens if you have one.
- Set up your camera on a tripod in front of the Northern Lights.
- Using the manual settings on your camera, choose the following settings (or as close to them as you can get):
- ISO 6,400
- F1.6 and shutter speed of 2 or 3 seconds*
- These were Oskar’s settings but not everyone has such a wide-angle lens*
- If your lens has a F stop higher than F1.6, you will need a longer shutter speed to compensate, so experiment (4 seconds, 6 seconds, 8 seconds) until you get the right combination for your lens and the light.
Useful equipment – if you are trying to take your own Northern Lights photos on a camera, then don’t forget your tripod, necessary for long exposure photography. A head torch is useful so that you can see your camera settings.
Peak aurora activity – we made around 3 or 4 stops during our evening, with the Northern Lights getting stronger as the night progressed. By around 11.00pm we enjoyed some incredible light shows with lots of different shapes including arcs, drapes and rays. At some point, I put my camera away and just stood underneath the lights and soaked them in as it was so magical.
Refreshments – at our final stop, Oskar set up a campfire at the back of the van and handed out hot chocolate and cookies. It was wonderful to stand around the fire to warm up under the dancing green lights above our heads.
Reindeer – at our first stop on the tour, we were all busy looking at the sky (for obvious reasons) and didn’t notice that we had been joined by two special visitors, a mum and baby reindeer (both female as they had antlers. Males shed their antlers in winter). Oskar explained that they had wandered over from the nearby Sami reindeer farm in the hope of finding some snacks. What a bonus!
After the tour – by the following evening, the professional photos that Oskar had taken were available on the via the link on the Arctic Breeze Instagram page. You could simply download any photos you wanted, for no additional cost. We were delighted with the photos as a lovely memento of our special evening.
Everything worked well on the Northern Lights Photography tour, and I would highly recommend the tour with Arctic Breeze. Our guide was great, and the minibus was comfortable. Thank you, Arctic Breeze!
How to increase your chances of seeing the Northern Lights
Obviously, as a natural phenomenon, there are no guarantees that you will see the Aurora on your visit. However, there are ways to increase your chances, such as:
- Northern Lights Season – visit Tromso during the Northern Lights season from September to late March.
- Polar Night period – even better, visit Tromso during the Polar Night period from late November to mid-January, when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon, so the skies are the darkest of the year – the darker the better for Aurora hunting.
- Multiday visit – aim to spend a few days in Tromso to give you more than one evening, and multiple chances, to see the Aurora.
- Northern Lights photography tour – book your Northern Lights tour for the first night of your stay, so that if you don’t see them on that occasion, you can potentially rebook on another night if needed – easier to facilitate if you have 3 days in Tromso. Make sure you book a tour which you can cancel at relatively short notice if you want to switch days around – most Get Your Guide Tours allow you to do this.
- Keep your eye on the weather – in the days leading up to your booked Northern Lights photography tour, keep an eye on the weather forecast. If the weather looks snowy or rainy then there’s likely to be cloud cover. If so, consider changing your tour to another night that looks clearer (this may require you to cancel the first tour and book a new tour).
- That said, sometimes the cloud cover changes quickly, so you can still see the Northern Lights on cloudy evenings. Also, it can be cloudy in Tromso city but then clearer in the countryside – to be honest, it’s a bit of a lottery and a degree of luck is required.
- Be patient – when Aurora hunting. They don’t show up at a set time, and they are not consistent. If the lights appear faint at the start, don’t give up, as the shapes, colours and intensity change over the course of the evening.
- Go now – as it’s the strongest solar activity season in a decade!
Tip - Book a window seat on the airplane to Tromso
As well as during your evening on a Northern Lights Photography tour, be prepared to see the Aurora at other times, for example, from the airplane windows on the approach to Tromso if you arrive in the evening – we saw them around 11.30pm as our flight from Manchester was leaving.
Make sure you book a window seat on the left-hand side for the approach flight!
Final thoughts....
The thing which confused me about seeing the Northern Lights in Tromso is that the Aurora were clearly visible over the city at night when we were in town. Usually, they say that the Aurora are only visible away from areas of light pollution (city lights) and so I wasn’t expecting to be able to see them from downtown Tromso, and the rooftop of The Dock 69° 39 Hotel by Scandic.
So, be extra vigilant and keep your eyes on the skies as you could be lucky at any point in Tromso!
Happy Aurora hunting...
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