The Aurora Australis or Southern Lights, photographed from Waipukurau at 2.50am Monday morning, with the lights of a passing logging truck helping set the scene. Photo / Caroline Bradley
Sun flares and the life of a night shift worker played into the hands of Central Hawke's Bay photographer Caroline Bradley this week, allowing her to capture a shot of an elusive aurora in the skies above Waipukurau.
"Every now and then Mother Nature throws an aurora that's strong enough
for us up here in the North Island to see," Caroline says. "Monday morning was one of those times."
Sun flares can lead to solar storms that give out huge clouds of electrically charged particles. These interact with Earth's magnetic field, causing an aurora.
"The red of these aurora cannot be seen with our eyes, but cameras and more recently phone camera sensors pick them up," Caroline says.
"To capture this firstly the camera has to face south. Under the Southern Cross is a good start. The camera settings are a very high ISO — around 6400 for this one. It's a long exposure (shutter stays open) shot of around 30 seconds on a tripod with a wide open aperture to let in as much light as possible.
