Shoot the aurora australis like a pro – even on a smartphone

Photos of the stunning lights of the aurora australis flooded social media on the weekend, and many shots were taken on humble mobile phones.

But is that a good way to capture this beautiful natural display in the night sky?

Sky’s the limit: this photo of two people watching the aurora australis light up a southern Tasmanian beach at about 5am on Saturday was taken on a digital camera.Credit: Luke Tscharke

Professional photographer Luke Tscharke said that while he used a Sony Alpha 7 IV digital camera when covering the display on a beach near Hobart, people can also take good shots using modern mobile phones.

Here are Tscharke’s tips for photographing the southern lights using a mobile phone camera: The phone’s camera should be set to night mode, or it may automatically do so. Don’t use flash.

Monitor forecasting apps like windy.com to find a time to shoot when there isn’t much cloud.

Choose a place with as little light pollution as possible, away from street lights and buildings. When shooting, point to the southern horizon and hold the phone steady. Consider attaching a tripod.

Including subjects such as trees, buildings, a bridge, or people can tell a story and add interest to photos.

Reflective surfaces like a pond create a mirror effect that can amplify colours.

Review shots on your phone: what the camera picks up can be different to what the eye sees because cameras are more sensitive.

If using a digital camera rather than a phone, choose a wide-angle lens, which allows for a wide shot, and use a wide aperture – a rating of F2.8 or lower – to let in as much light as possible. ISO – a measure of sensitivity – should be on the higher end of up to 6400.

Shutter speed should be five to 30 seconds. The longer the shutter speed, the less detail is captured.

A gallery of aurora australis photos on Tscharke’s Facebook page, Luke Tscharke Photography, posted at midday on Saturday received more than 290,000 “likes” and Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff was among the social media users who shared it.

On a separate matter, The Age deputy picture editor Paul Rovere says artificial enhancement is one issue that arises among some images shared online.

Here are Rovere’s tips that may help spot images that may be less than authentic.

Rovere says that when a digital image has been overprocessed with photo editing software, the quality of the picture is reduced, coarse pixels appear, the number of colours decreases, and detail gets lost.

“If you’re trying to ascertain whether the photo of the aurora australis your friend posted on Facebook has been photoshopped too much, look for blocky, tile-like squares in the saturated colours, or horizontal or vertical patterns at the extremes of the image,” Rovere said.

“Although the southern aurora colours are spectacular, a hyper-realistic or artificial appearance can also be a giveaway.”

But Tscharke was more understanding and said images can be edited differently. But he also added: “At the end of the day what people choose to show in their photos is all part of their own artistic vision, and it’s much more important for everyone to be out there enjoying these amazing spectacles and respecting the work that people are sharing and recognising that that’s what those people are choosing to put out into the world.”

“There may be fakery out there, but just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean other people will feel the same.”

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