Aurora photography is long-exposure photography. Once you understand how three settings trade off, you can shoot the Northern Lights on any manual camera or phone.
Here's the simple version.
The exposure triangle
Three settings control brightness: shutter speed (how long light is gathered), ISO (sensor sensitivity) and aperture (how wide the lens opens). For aurora you want plenty of light without too much noise or blur.
Start here
- Aperture: widest available (f/2.8 ideal)
- Shutter: 5–15 seconds
- ISO: 1600–3200
These gather enough light for most displays. See our full camera settings guide for details.
Balancing sharpness and light
Longer shutters gather more light but blur fast-moving aurora into a smear and can trail the stars. If the aurora is dancing, shorten the shutter (2–5s) and raise ISO instead.
Keep it steady
Any exposure over a second needs a tripod and a timer or remote. That's the difference between a crisp aurora and a blurry one.