The dance of the Aurora often inspires photos of the phenomenon, but mixing night sky photography techniques that typically require a slower shutter speed and manual focus with portraits is no easy task. This week, we asked four photographers how they captured these stunning northern lights portraits of the bride and groom. Find inspiration—and northern lights portrait tips—from this week’s Photos of the Week by Andrew Pavlidis, Henry Tieu, Hayley Forstved and Thomas Garchinski, and Tori Burley.

Andrew Pavlidis, Willow and Wolf Photography

Alberta-based Andrew Pavlidis of Willow and Wolf Photography is familiar with the northern lights, which often appear as a faint glow on the horizon. However, during one couple’s elopement, a major solar storm coincided with a mostly clear sky. Pavlidis explains that, on their drive back from a helicopter elopement, they saw the lights from the car window. They pulled over to capture the shot, with the full moon providing enough light to keep the couple and the mountains from appearing as silhouettes. Pavlidis used a Canon R5 Mark II, an RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM lens, and a tripod.

“When photographing the northern lights, greater attention is given to the sky,” Pavlidis said. “It’s important to find somewhere to shoot that is away from any light pollution e.g. city lights, streetlights, buildings etc. The darker the landscape, the more vivid the northern lights will be in your images. Where can you go that has enough open space so that you can get a lot of sky in your images? If you are photographing a subject in your image, how can you position them above you or shoot from below, so they don’t get lost in the foreground? Or you may want to consider lighting them, so they stand out. Unlike photographing the stars, you can get away with shutter speeds as low as a few seconds as the sky is much brighter. This is also essential to capture the bands of light.”

Henry Tieu, Henry Tieu Photography

During this elopement, the last thing Henry Tieu of Henry Tieu Photography expected on a day that started out cloudy was to end the night with shots on the northern lights. While Tieu was photographing the couple during Blue Hour, he noticed a faint pink hue on the horizon. He asked the couple if they wanted to take a chance and wait for complete darkness, which would mean arriving late to the reception. The couple readily said yes and as the sky darkened, that faint pink hue become a stronger aurora glow. Tieu incorporated the couple’s headlamps from their earlier hike, using a Sony a7 IV and a Sony G Master 24mm f/1.4 lens.

“There’s a balance between long exposure and client experience,” Tieu said. “To get the best light, of course a longer exposure would be the best approach. However, as the night gets colder and colder and our clients would be in wedding attire, we want to make sure they can handle the cold as well. Therefore, to get a sharp image without motion blur, I’d advise photographers to keep shutter speed within 4 – 8 seconds and rely on ISO and aperture to get a proper exposure. This image was at 6 second shutter speed.”

Hayley Forstved and Thomas Garchinski, Film and Forest Photography

Capturing the northern lights over the Rocky Mountains is a rare opportunity. When a solar storm hit during a couple’s August elopement, photographers Haley Forstved and Thomas Garchinski of Film and Forest Photography jumped at the opportunity. After sunset vows, the team decided to stay overnight in an alpine hut in Banff National Park, hoping for aurora activity. As the lights began to dance, they ventured back outside, turning the elopement into a 16-hour session that ended at sunrise. They used a Canon R5, an RF 15-35mm lens, and a Manfrotto tripod.

“There’s so much to know when capturing aurora, but the biggest thing to know is that it’s different from starry sky photography,” Forstved said. “You’ve got more light in the sky, and more movement (especially with strong, dancing aurora) so you’ll want a lower shutter speed than if you were simply photographing the Milky Way – or else the pattern of the aurora themselves will be blurred out! The trickiest thing about this photo was finding the sweet spot between letting enough light in to light our bride and groom, while not blurring the auroras.”

Tori Burley, Trillium and Pine

For photographer Tori Burley of Trillium and Pine, taking portraits under the northern lights combines her two passions for photographing people and the night sky. The goal for this elopement was to document the couple’s adventurous souls, Burley says. After a first look at sunrise, the photographer and couple spent the day hiking and chasing waterfalls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Following sunset photos on the beach, the group waited for darkness, hoping the predicted solar storm would deliver a light show. “I don’t think we could’ve enveloped more of a Michigan UP experience into a single day if I tried,” Burley said.

Dust from a day of hiking added even more pop to the image with bokeh. She captured the shot using a Sony a7 III, a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art lens, a tripod, and a Lume Cube light panel.

Five Tips for Northern Lights Portraits from Tori Burley:

1. Learn and practice using your camera in the dark beforehand. Photograph the moon, the Milky Way, or stars to get comfortable with night settings.
2. Remove your lens filters. Newton’s Rings are a real bummer, I promise.
3. Prevent your lens from fogging. If it’s cold and you don’t have a lens warmer, use hand warmers and a hair tie as a makeshift solution.
4. Scout your locations during the daylight. Make sure you have a comfy spot there, be prepared to wait and let someone know where you’ll be.
5. Adjust your settings as needed. It doesn’t matter what they say your settings “should be,” it’ll always be different. I always start with shutter speed at 15 seconds, aperture as wide as my lens allows, and ISO 1000. Manually focus on the brightest star and adjust from there. For this shot, settings were 3.2 seconds, f/2.8, and ISO 2000.

Dig into our Photos of the Day Archives for even more timeless photos, eye-catching portraits and wedding photos. Submit your wedding, editorial, documentary and other interesting imagery (up to five images at a time) to: [email protected].

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