Celestial Lights

Stunning images of the Aurora Borealis shot in Northern Norway.

For those who do not know, auroras are caused by solar activity. This is shortly visualized in the video. Our suns activity varies in 11 year cycles, and we are closing solar maximum (solar max) for our current solar cycle somewhere between 2012-2013, and solar activity with corresponding auroral activity has clearly been picking up. The beginning of 2011 was lots of clouds but weather improved late 2011 and out 2012. This video contains recordings from some of the most spectacular auroral displays I have ever witnessed, and I have seen a few.

For this video I did shoot approx 150.000 exposures from sept.2011 – april.2012 using Canon DSLR’s and various wide angle lenses. Approx 6.000 frames in this video. To achieve pannings I used the fantastic Stage Zero + MX2 controller time-lapse gear from Dynamic Perception.

The video is a merge of two parts; the first part contains some more wild and aggressive auroras, as well as a few milky way sequences, hence either auroras are moving fast because they are, or they are fast due to motion of the milky way / stars. Still, some of the strait up shots are very close to real-time speed, although auroras mostly are slower, she can also be FAST! The second part has some more slow and majestic auroras, where I have focused more on composition and foreground. The music should give you a clear indication of where you are 🙂

Again, choosing what sequences to use was a battle, and many good sequences will have to wait for a later project I am working on 😉 – More info about this will be announced on my facebook site. facebook.com/arcticlightphoto

This video summarizes the end of a hectic aurora season for me, and my last shots was done only a few days ago. However now the late sunlight is making it hard to shoot the auroras at night up here, so I decided enough was enough for now, and time to release the video.

I have driven thousands of km between locations up here in the arctic this season, and while on location(s) I was running between 2-3 cameras like a madman, and almost every sequence you see in this video also has been shot using circular fish-eye optics, for yet another project to come. Luckily I had some good company on many of the cold nights.

You got to see more of Ole Salomonsen’s Photos on his Facebook Page Here – Arctic Light Photo – Ole Salomonsen Photography

“Forest storm”

“Celestial illumination”

“Illuminated Beach”

“Luminous Cloudscape”

Follow me on facebook:
facebook.com/arcticlightphoto

Ok folks, this is it. Here is my first video project.

It is a timelapse video of the Northern Lights. All sequences are shot in or close to Tromsø in Northern Norway.

I have spent over 6months collecting footage for this, I have shot approx 50.000 stills to choose from in making this video. A goal for me has been to try to preserve the real-time speed of the northern lights, or come as close as possible, and present it the way I experienced it, instead of the northern lights just flashing over the sky in the blink of an eye. It may work on other time-lapse videos with fast moving clouds and sunsets etc, but with the northern lights in focus, it should be presented in it’s true speed to reflect her beauty, imo. In the video I have put together a collection of slow moving auroras in the woods, over the mounatins, in the city, in the foreshore, reflected in the sea, with some of the most spectacular and strongest auroral outbreaks seen in many years. Included here is a coronal outbreak, in which I am particularly happy to present, since it is very difficult to get on stills, even worse on “film”.

I got a fantastic soundtrack made for the video by local musical talent in Tromsø; Per Wollen. A Huge thanks goes to you Per obviously! The audio track “Aurora in the sky” can be found on iTunes.

Also, with two small children at home under 2 years, it goes without saying I could never have done this without the fantastic understanding and help from my girlfriend. This has been an insanely time-consuming project. Both hours after hours out in the cold, but also all the hours in post-processing during late nights has led to a severe lack of sleep. And although you always feel like there is something you could have improved, even slightly, before releasing, you come to a point when you just have to finish. And that time is now.

Thank you so much Veronica flickr.com/photos/velectronica/ for letting and helping me finish this project!! Love you! 🙂

Also, I would like to apologize to many of my friends for being so occupied the last months. Looking forward to spend more time with you all now.

A huge thank goes to Jay and dynamicperception.com/ for their awesome timelapse gear who made some of the sequences in this video possible!

Per and I would also like to express our feelings for the tsunami victims of the great people of Japan.

The video shown here on Vimeo is 1280×720. It may be also available in 1920×1080 and Digital Cinema HD 4K. Contact me for higher resolution. Video may not be used commercially or public without permission.

Footage has been prepared for viewing in sRGB color space since this is the space most people use. Hence wide gamut displays may display colors wrong, especially green ones which the aurora mostly appears in, since the most clipping in color space when downscaling to sRGB is done in the green color area.

Hope you like the video, more info about me:

flickr.com/photos/salomonsen/
arcticlightphoto.no

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