INTRODUCTION TO AURORA FORECASTING AND NIGHT SKY PHOTOGRAPHY

We are now at solar maximum. 2024, has been a year of some significant auroral activity and there has been some great activity in 2025. . The question enviably arises: Should I head out?, When should I head out?

This course provides an introduction to the basics of interpreting the various data to make informed decisions about whether to head out to chase the aurora. It has given me a lot of satisfaction to see previous participants acquiring their first shots of the Aurora Australis after doing the course.

The first part of this course (the theory) helps you to develop an understanding of how to interpret various data incoming about the Sun to be able to make a more informed decision as to when to head out to capture the Aurora Australis from the Canberra, Snowy Mountains areas? I am a qualified Science teacher, so able to unpack this in a practical down to earth way and fun way .

The second part of the course covers the basics photographic techniques which are then reinforced in the field to photograph the wonders of the night sky including the Milky Way and Aurora? This will enable you to learn learn photographic techniques that will allow you to maximise your opportunity to photograph these events. I also cover some basic processing tips for processing your images of the aurora.

In the field I will teach you how to:

• focus your DSLR/Mirrorless camera to help ensure the sharpest and most pleasing shots of our night skies taking into account the Earth's rotation and NPF rule. Emphasis is given to aurora photography.
• adjust your camera settings in manual mode for ISO, shutter speed and aperture taking into account reasonable exposure levels using the histogram
• shoot panoramas (great for the Milky way)
• shoot star trails
• shoot timelapses
• light paint foreground objects such as buildings, trees etc to create images with the stars in the background
• manage white balance in your shots as well as in light painting
• shoot multiple images of foreground and background shots to be stacked so to further reduce noise in your images

Pease join me! I have had about 10 years experience chasing the aurora from the Canberra area after capturing my first aurorae (on film) back in 1989 in Hobart. I have also captured the aurora from Iceland in 2018 and 2019. This experience has allowed me to gather information to be able to make informed decisions to commence my own aurora chase.

Each participant receives detailed notes for future reference.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via the contact table on my website.