#nordlys — Public Fediverse posts

How it started, and how it finished!

This is the same scene off the same camera, and captured with the same settings. The only thing changed is the moon and the aurora's mood. Cameras only see light: that is the craft.

ISO 4000 for 4sec @ F2.8
14mm (Sigma 14-24mm F2.8)
Lumix S9
February 23, 2026

#EwenInNorway #Nordlys #Photography #Auroras #NorthernLights #Lumix

Still haven't had time to edit the photos from a couple of nights ago, so instead here's a few more from the night before that. Feb 23 in Norway.

#EwenInNorway #Nordlys #Photography #Auroras #NorthernLights #LumixS9

Here's a little "behind the scenes" from the other night. I needed one or two pictures of myself to help promote the workshop. It's so weird posing for a camera, I do my best work behind the lens instead of in front of it :)

#EwenInNorway #Nordlys #Photography #Selfie #WorkshopWithEwen

Arctic style disco lights, and the moon turned into a star.

Captured with the TT Artisan 14mm F2.8. Very compact little lens. Plenty of optical blemishes, but at this price who cares. Fun and compact. Good companion for the Lumix S9.

#EwenInNorway #Nordlys #Photography #Auroras #NorthernLights #LumixS9

Was one of those nights last night. 5 hours of shooting. Hard drives are full. Left knee is killing me.

Totally worth it.

#EwenInNorway #Nordlys #Photography #Auroras #NorthernLights #CaptureOne #Lumix

Here's a throwback to a few weeks ago, when the weather was colder and the nights were longer. The days are starting so early now. I prefer the polar night :)

Forecast for Friday night is clear skies though, so I'll look forward to heading out to shoot again then. I've mostly been sitting by the fire and editing my zine this past week.

I have been tagging my winter photography this year, so you can walk back through the full collection here:
https://social.ewenbell.com/tag/eweninnorway

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys

Last night we took everyone up to the top of a mountain, grilled hot sandwiches over the fire and ate muffins.

And we shot some auroras too :)

This has been the best workshop we've ever run. Two decades of learned experience distilled into two weeks of adventure and immersion. It's been calm and enriching. Lovely people and a wonderful way to connect with nature and photography.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Lumix #WorkshopWithEwen #WinterLight #Aurora #Nordlys

One more pic today. We set the cameras rolling on timelapse mode, then step back to enjoy some hot chocolate and just watch the show unfold. This capture was from one of the last flushes, when the ribbons danced rapidly to the north. Our entire fjord was light up with green neon.

Sharing these evenings with a great bunch of people makes it doubly special.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Lumix #WorkshopWithEwen #WinterLight #Aurora #Nordlys

Everyone had just gone to bed when the satellite data wiggled. Within 30 minutes we had assembled by the shores of a frozen lake and setup the cameras, and watched the nordlys unfold. Slowly at first, just a gentle band in the north.

And then it all went disco.

#EwenInNorway #WorkshopWithEwen

Captured on the Lumix S9 with Sigma 14-24mm F2.8. Exposures were 2.5 seconds at F2.8 and ISO 4000.

#Photography #Norway #Lumix #WinterLight #Aurora #Nordlys #DiscoLights

In the dark even the gentlest of light can feel bright.

Night of February 7, 2026.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Lumix #WorkshopWithEwen #WinterLight #Aurora #Nordlys

Last night's aurora dash. Big burst arrived about 1am. I need a nap now.

#Photography #Norway #Lumix #Nordlys #Aurora #NorthernLights #WorkshopWithEwen #EwenInNorway

Aurora rumours at the NOAA suggest Feb 5 is scheduled for "possible glancing influences".

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/update-x81-strong-flare-region-4366

#Aurora #Nordlys #NorthernLights

#WorkshopWithEwen #EwenInNorway

Some of my favourite moments on camera with the nordlys are not with the fjords or the forests, but just shooting directly up to the sky above us and marvelling at the formations and elegance of these aurora bands.

And in this instance, the moon itself makes a cameo appearance.

#Photography #Norway #Lumix #Nordlys #Aurora #NorthernLights

The first night we shot auroras around the cabins, and got to grips with our camera gear in the cold conditions. Everyone did well. The second night we went harder, and ventured into the forest on a quiet little trail.

Under the moonlight we captured the fresh snow and frost that blanketed everything in white. And then the nordlys arrived! We kept going for about 3 hours, and Shellie served up hot drinks to keep us warm.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Nordlys #Aurora #NorthernLights #Lumix #WorkshopWithEwen

Grabbed a few shots in between helping our companions get started. A huge day today. A lovely day.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Norway #Nordlys #Aurora #Lumix

Shellie and I are hunkered down on a Sunday arvo here. It's been snowing all night, and all day, and it's bloody marvellous. We have plenty of timber for the fire, and yummy left overs in the fridge.

I sent off a client job this morning, so I can stop thinking about that for a while. It feels like a proper winter's Sunday. Should be another day of snow, then the clear skies and cold air will be back. And we'll be back to auroras then.

In the meantime I might have a little time to catch up on editing.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan23 #Lumix #Aurora

There's one section of hill that is steeper than the rest. It feels like you're nearly at the grillehytte, but on cresting the slope you realise you're only half-way up. Behind me the moon was about to disappear, but above me the nordlys were lighting the path ahead.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan23 #Lumix #Aurora

Last night I wandered a trail into the mountains. The nordlys came and went. I stopped every so often and sized up some photography, then moved further along the trail. Slowly slowly. Took me over 5 hours to cover 2.5kms.

Every so often the nordlys went disco. Then slip back into a gentle jazz mode. I found myself enjoying these slow moments. Waiting and watching the auroras build from a slow burn.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan23 #Lumix #Aurora

Sometimes the quiet moments get loud. Feels like the planet is angry at us humans. Indeed, the entire solar system is paying attention.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan23 #Lumix #Aurora

Have commented a few times in recent weeks about "saturation" when it comes to auroras.

These two screenshots are the same file, the first with default saturation (and some tweak in the curve), and second is after desaturating with a very heavy hand. Didn't stop until the greens were disappearing!

Notice how a hint of red aurora can be seen once you remove the heavy blue saturation, and how the scene looks more "natural" as well?

The other thing to note, this was a very very modest aurora. It looks a bit dull perhaps in the desaturated version, but that's because it WAS a bit dull! Not every moment with the nordlys is going to be a screamer. (Half way home from this shoot, as we drove along the highway, the nordlys were absolutely banging and sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles :)

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Aurora

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'
- Oscar Wilde

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Aurora

Something a bit different this evening. A gentle moment from earlier this evening, before the disco lights came on.

We trudged our way through the snow to a corner of a lake, and admired the view. Just a hint of aurora in the early evening. Enough to make the trip worthwhile.

For the next three hours we waited out on the lake. Experimenting with cracks in the ice. Waiting for a big aurora show. And we waited, then waited some more. There's a point at which we get too cold or too tired. Or both. We have to get up early tomorrow, so at 10pm we headed back to the car.

On the winding roads, covered in ice and snow, we enjoyed a little warmth from the engine. And through the windscreen watched yet another big show of nordlys kicking off in the sky. We'd missed them by maybe 30mins.

We had a good laugh about it. When I got home there was a log fire and a slice of carrot cake waiting for me :)

#Photography #Nordlys #Jan22 #Aurora #EwenInNorway

Day and night in the Arctic. January 21 was a good day. All of my favourite things, including Shellie.

#EwenInNorway
#Photography #Nordlys #Jan21 #Aurora

#EwenInNorway

As a child the forest was my sanctuary. It was adventure. It was calmness. It was discovery. It was fantasy. It was safety. It was connection.

Not much has changed in five decades.

#Photography #Nordlys #Jan21 #Aurora

Sharing another example of my editing here. Or perhaps a glance at the potential of editing.

My preference for most photos is to push for a light and bright result. Not so much to make night look like day, that's going too far, but to avoid the heavy weight of dark blacks and heavy contrast. I like things soft, and recognise not everyone digs this approach. I want my aurora shots to sit next to my other work and feel balanced.

In this instance, the RAW file was a bit underexposed, which is probably ideal for many folks I think. Lots of people tend to like the strong blacks and rich colours. The second edit in this example is perhaps closer to where most folks might head. Still not strongly saturated beyond the defaults (which are pretty intense for my tastes).

The final two in the quad have been tweaked for colour balance and saturation. Just wanting to demonstrate how much "personal taste" can influence the final colours you see in an aurora image posted online. I get a little cranky about hyper-saturated auroras. A lot of folks are excited to see their first aurora and get a little disappointed when it didn't look the same to their eyes as it did the photoshop saturation slider!

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan20 #AuroraStorm #Aurora

Okey one more. This time my regular 14mm perspective, looking straight up at a corona. I picked this one from the same time of night, to match the other two 10mm shots in this thread.

I am struggling with editing these, because the colours are so intense. It looks un-natural, as though they are doctored. Yet I've backed off the saturation by double my usual amount. It really is an intense display when the big ones zip over head.

What colours are real? The camera is seeing a lot more colour than our eyes do. We did see the red and greens in the night, for sure. At times the sky was like daylight, but green and red. If you tinker with white-balance you can push those reds into purple, and the brighter greens into yellow hues. Reality is anything you want it to be on a night like this.

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan20 #AuroraStorm #Aurora

Was chatting to a friend today about the importance of having art in our lives. To focus our minds on creating art and expressing that aspect of ourselves. Art is like nature, we need to "touch grass" on a regular basis, and we need to "hold the brush" just as often.

Here's one of my favourite moments from last night. It's shot with a 10mm fisheye, so it's more than 180° of view from top to bottom. That burst of corona above the fjord is directly above my head, and then continues behind me to the south. The 10mm sees all of this.

I must take care to keep my head out of the shot in such moments :)

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Nordlys #Jan20 #AuroraStorm #Aurora

I probably should be back out there taking more photos, but I came home for a bit to get warm and have a hot meal. And part of me wants to head to bed, and part of me wants to sit out in the cold and hope to see a few more of these.

The beauty of the movement, the shapes, the colours and the transience is something I will never be able to fully grasp. But I keep trying.

I recently bought a 10mm F2.8 fisheye lens from 7Artisans, which arrived in the post just in time for this evenings action. I think me and the 10mm are gonna be good friends!

#EwenInNorway #Photography #Auroras #Nordlys #Jan20 #AuroraStorm #Aurora

Here's a photo of my setup to take a photo of my buddy taking photos of the nordlys. I had to hang my S9 upside-down to get low enough.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's a photo of my setup to take a photo of my buddy taking photos of the nordlys. I had to hang my S9 upside-down to get low enough.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's a photo of my setup to take a photo of my buddy taking photos of the nordlys. I had to hang my S9 upside-down to get low enough.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's a photo of my setup to take a photo of my buddy taking photos of the nordlys. I had to hang my S9 upside-down to get low enough.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's a photo of my setup to take a photo of my buddy taking photos of the nordlys. I had to hang my S9 upside-down to get low enough.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's one more from the 11mm before I head to bed. Have been shooting auroras for about 15 years, but in some ways it feels like this year I've finally found my happy place with it. Have a better sense of what makes a satisfying composition for me.

Even with a quirky lens like an 11mm Fisheye :)

Goodnight all.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's one more from the 11mm before I head to bed. Have been shooting auroras for about 15 years, but in some ways it feels like this year I've finally found my happy place with it. Have a better sense of what makes a satisfying composition for me.

Even with a quirky lens like an 11mm Fisheye :)

Goodnight all.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's one more from the 11mm before I head to bed. Have been shooting auroras for about 15 years, but in some ways it feels like this year I've finally found my happy place with it. Have a better sense of what makes a satisfying composition for me.

Even with a quirky lens like an 11mm Fisheye :)

Goodnight all.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's one more from the 11mm before I head to bed. Have been shooting auroras for about 15 years, but in some ways it feels like this year I've finally found my happy place with it. Have a better sense of what makes a satisfying composition for me.

Even with a quirky lens like an 11mm Fisheye :)

Goodnight all.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Here's one more from the 11mm before I head to bed. Have been shooting auroras for about 15 years, but in some ways it feels like this year I've finally found my happy place with it. Have a better sense of what makes a satisfying composition for me.

Even with a quirky lens like an 11mm Fisheye :)

Goodnight all.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Just havin a normal one here in The Arctic. Another 60GB of RAW files to work through from this evening.

This set was taken with my fisheye lens, because it's super wide with a little over 120° field of view. And that's handy when you want to capture what's happening from one horizon to another.

(Exposures are F4 for 4sec at ISO 4000. Lumix S9 and TT Artisan 11mm F2.8 MF)

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Just havin a normal one here in The Arctic. Another 60GB of RAW files to work through from this evening.

This set was taken with my fisheye lens, because it's super wide with a little over 120° field of view. And that's handy when you want to capture what's happening from one horizon to another.

(Exposures are F4 for 4sec at ISO 4000. Lumix S9 and TT Artisan 11mm F2.8 MF)

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Just havin a normal one here in The Arctic. Another 60GB of RAW files to work through from this evening.

This set was taken with my fisheye lens, because it's super wide with a little over 120° field of view. And that's handy when you want to capture what's happening from one horizon to another.

(Exposures are F4 for 4sec at ISO 4000. Lumix S9 and TT Artisan 11mm F2.8 MF)

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Just havin a normal one here in The Arctic. Another 60GB of RAW files to work through from this evening.

This set was taken with my fisheye lens, because it's super wide with a little over 120° field of view. And that's handy when you want to capture what's happening from one horizon to another.

(Exposures are F4 for 4sec at ISO 4000. Lumix S9 and TT Artisan 11mm F2.8 MF)

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Just havin a normal one here in The Arctic. Another 60GB of RAW files to work through from this evening.

This set was taken with my fisheye lens, because it's super wide with a little over 120° field of view. And that's handy when you want to capture what's happening from one horizon to another.

(Exposures are F4 for 4sec at ISO 4000. Lumix S9 and TT Artisan 11mm F2.8 MF)

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Dropped a little time-lapse from early this arvo. I have a lot of time-lapses to share in the coming days!

https://makertube.net/w/gSiJDrYaYkY8obMJqtzJif

#EwenTube #Nordlys #EwenInNorway

Off to bed now. Been out there for four hours shooting tonight. Gonna take days to sort through the pics.

I did grab this frame to share quickly though before my brain logs off. A cheeky selfie under the aurora.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Off to bed now. Been out there for four hours shooting tonight. Gonna take days to sort through the pics.

I did grab this frame to share quickly though before my brain logs off. A cheeky selfie under the aurora.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Off to bed now. Been out there for four hours shooting tonight. Gonna take days to sort through the pics.

I did grab this frame to share quickly though before my brain logs off. A cheeky selfie under the aurora.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm

Off to bed now. Been out there for four hours shooting tonight. Gonna take days to sort through the pics.

I did grab this frame to share quickly though before my brain logs off. A cheeky selfie under the aurora.

#EwenInNorway #Lumix #Photography #Norway #Aurora #Nordlys #11mm