December 2025 • Nebraskaland 27
until I finally traded pavement for
gravel near the town of Bee. Looking for
a subject in the countryside to frame in
a photograph, I eventually came upon a
lone windmill in a cornfield and waited
for the twilight to fade.
As stars began to emerge, I noticed
what seemed to be a vehicle's
headlights cutting through dust
over the horizon and heading in my
An unexpected display on a friend's ranch near Hyannis.
May 26, 2017.
A long camera exposure is one of the key ingredients in
capturing the northern lights with a cellphone or digital camera.
A long exposure allows the camera to "soak up" more light over
time, making faint objects become brighter and visible, while also
revealing more color and detail.
You can set exposure time manually on most smartphones.
When in the dark, try setting the exposure to 5-10 seconds and
holding the phone as steady as possible. Any movement during
the exposure period will cause motion blur and potentially an
unusable photo. The photos shared here were all taken with a
Nikon digital camera and a tripod to keep the camera still.
With my camera, I prefer to set the lens' aperture as large as
possible (the smallest f-stop number), turn the ISO up to 1,000+
(but not too high to avoid introducing too much grain into the
image), and use a 5-10 second shutter speed. If the lights are
moving rapidly, I might even opt for a 3-5 second exposure to help
prevent the lines of color from blending into one another.
Sometimes, even if the aurora isn't visible to your eyes, you can
take a photo of the night sky, and your camera will capture color
invisible to the naked eye. I've had my camera register red or green
hues in an otherwise "black" sky. It does take some experimenting
and trial and error, but with a little practice, anyone can take
breathtaking photos worthy of sharing.
Camera Tips
