Few natural events have captured the imagination more than the recent huge solar storm that led to the most spectacular display of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, earlier this month. All over the UK and even in places much further south, such as central Europe, astonishing displays could be seen.
As anyone familiar with the phenomenon will know, the naked eye view and what a camera will capture differ somewhat. The extreme strength of the storm, the most powerful in decades, meant that people could see hints of green, red and pink even in southern England. However, for the most part viewers will see greyish, white or pale blue colours.
A camera, however, will pick up more colour. This is true both of photography using long exposures and also the right film cameras. These can capture much more vivid images than the naked eye and provide a stunning spectacle to those who see the footage.
Those planning to film the Northern Lights should go to locations where there is less light pollution. The extreme nature of the recent event meant the phenomenon was visible even in cities, but normally that is not the case, with artificial light making it invisible.
All terrain vehicle hire can be very advantageous for those wanting to get great footage of the lights, as this enables you to get your equipment to remoter spots far from the glare of urban areas.
The next three months will be unfavourable for aurora watching, as the perpetual twilight of summer nights will mean it never gets dark enough to see the lights. However, from August onwards, the prospects will improve. Aurora is also particularly strong around the equinoxes, so late September is a time to plan a filming expedition.
Autumn may bring more grand spectacles, because the May storm was no fluke; the sun goes through an 11-year cycle of activity, with our star at or near its peak this year. This means it produces more sunspots and solar flares, which provide huge ejections of magnetic particles. These hit the Earth’s magnetic field, with aurora being the result.
Normally, the lights can only be seen clearly in the far north like Lapland, Iceland or the Scottish Highlands, but towards the peak of the cycle, sightings further south are more common and while the latest instance was the most spectacular in many a year, it is far from the only time in the last two years the lights have been seen in southern parts of the UK.
If your film crew is keen on capturing the lights in all their glory, you could always head to the Highlands. But there should be lots of rural locations in England seeing them on clear nights later this year.
A piece of equipment you certainly won’t be taking is outdoor lighting, as this will diminish the effect of the lights and go down like a lead balloon with any people who have also sought out the same dark area to view the aurora.
Instead, it will be all about having the right camera and getting to the darkest location, whatever the terrain, to capture the very best of the lights in the year ahead.