Dancing lights, fairytale frames: shooting the Northern Lights with Menna Hossam

Every year, photographers and enthusiasts travel far and wide to witness the mesmerising Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. With heightened solar activity expected in 2024 and 2025, now is the perfect time to plan a shoot that captures this natural wonder at its most vibrant.

The sun is approaching a peak in its 11-year solar cycle, the solar maximum. This means there are more solar flares and coronal mass ejections – waves of charged particles and plasma that are explosively hurled into space. These ejections collide into Earth's magnetic field, creating geomagnetic storms, and this phenomenon results in brighter Northern Lights that shimmer at lower latitudes than usual. This drew Canon Ambassador Menna Hossam, a fine art photographer born and raised in Egypt, to more northern latitudes than usual.

Menna’s photography merges fine art and high fashion, creating dreamlike, fairytale-inspired images that celebrate her creative heroes while capturing global landscapes in unique ways, but shooting the Aurora has been a dream of Menna’s for years.

“I think they’re magical," she says. "It’s like no other thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Inspired by an article in National Geographic, Menna knew this was her moment. Using her Canon EOS R5 with a Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM lens, Menna documented the Northern Lights over Iceland’s iconic Kirkjufell mountain.

Here, she shares her experiences from her first time photographing the Aurora Borealis and the best camera settings for the Northern Lights.

According to Menna, “Iceland is magic.” That's why she chose this location, out of the various countries across Northern Europe where the phenomenon can be seen, to shoot the Aurora Borealis.

It’s important to understand the best time and place to photograph the Northern Lights to increase your chances and your readiness. If you do plan to travel to a snowy region, for example, it's useful to understand how to best shoot in extreme weather conditions.

In addition to having the right camera equipment (more on that later), Menna says spare batteries, warm clothes and keeping an eye on the weather conditions is a must. Logistically, you’ll spend hours waiting for the Aurora, and more hours shooting the Aurora, moving around, looking for the perfect composition and perfect angles.

“It was really windy. It was very cold. You need to stay warm in order to be able to survive the night," advises Menna. Weather-resistant equipment is a necessary part of the process. She adds: "You need to have a sturdy tripod and a proper wide lens."

There are several apps available that Menna says are extremely valuable for photographers. Some offer real-time updates about when and where the Northern Lights will be visible, meaning you can plan shoots much more effectively. App alerts and location services for best viewing spots are also handy tools to support shooting.

Once you arrive at your chosen setting, there comes a second round of planning and preparation before you click away and capture the stunning phenomenon. When it comes to positioning and figuring out where to shoot, regardless of how popular the location is, Menna's advice is to find spots that are less busy, “so that you can have the time to set up and experiment.”

Prior to travelling to Iceland, Menna did some research to help choose the right lens for Northern Lights photography. It was important for her to have a very light lens, to cope with the challenging environment and for ease of working. It was also important to have a wide-angle lens to capture the spectacle of the Aurora properly.

“I chose the RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM ultra-wide lens,” Menna explains. "It was very lightweight and very small, so it was also convenient.” The Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, with almost identical focal length range, is a great affordable alternative for those looking for a wide-angle zoom lens to shoot the Northern Lights.

Prime lenses offer wider apertures for better quality images in low light. The Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM lens is a lightweight, affordable f/2.8 option, while the RF 24mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM is a great choice for those seeking wider aperture to capture images of the Aurora Borealis.

Don’t have time to get a new lens? The kit lenses for EOS R System cameras enable you to take great pictures in various conditions, including low light if you use the right settings and a tripod.

Menna paired the ultra-wide RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM lens with the Canon EOS R5. The camera's 45MP full-frame sensor delivers exceptional detail and clarity, ideal for producing large-format prints that preserve the intricate colours and patterns of the Northern Lights.

For photographers seeking a more budget-friendly option without compromising on image quality, the Canon EOS R8 has a 24.2MP full-frame sensor that provides impressive detail and dynamic range, making it a solid choice for capturing images of the Aurora Borealis.

It’s important to understand how shutter speed and ISO settings affect your Northern Lights photography. For ideal results, here are Menna's best camera settings for capturing the Aurora:

• ISO: Start with ISO 1600 or 3200 but feel free to go as high as need be. This increases the camera’s sensitivity to light, meaning it can capture more of the available light, creating a brighter image even in the dark of night. This should give you enough sensitivity to photograph the Northern Lights without introducing too much image noise.
• Aperture: Keep it as wide (as low an f-number) as your lens will go, ideally f/4 or lower, depending on the lens, to maximise light intake. The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field becomes, meaning that less of the image will be in sharp focus, but don't worry about that – see the advice about focusing below.
• Shutter speed: Between 5 and 15 seconds typically works well, with shorter exposures for faster-moving auroras. At longer exposures, a tripod is essential to keep the camera stable and prevent blur caused by camera shake.
• Focus: Set the lens to manual focus, and use the camera's focus peaking feature to verify what is sharp in shots with objects or people in the foreground. Use the LCD screen on the back of the camera for precision. This way even in the dark you can make sure the focus will be on the right subject. If you're struggling with focus, try to focus on a bright star.
• RAW format: Shooting in RAW ensures the highest image quality, ready for detailed post-processing.

Shooting the Aurora comes with its own set of challenges. Based on Menna's experience, here are some tips for solving these and getting outstanding results.

• Camera shake: Camera shake during long exposures can blur your images. In windy conditions, weigh down your tripod with rocks or a sandbag. You can trigger the shutter remotely using a cable release or the Canon Camera Connect App to minimise vibrations.
• Focusing in darkness: Use manual focus and, if possible, focus on a distant light, or have someone shine a flashlight to aid in focusing.
• Balancing foreground subjects with the Aurora: For Northern Lights photography that includes people or objects, consider a soft external light source. Double exposures can also be a creative solution to balance both the Aurora and the foreground subject.

Menna says including a person in your composition gives viewers a point of reference, helping them understand the sky-sized scale of the Northern Lights.

If you do this, Menna suggests using a soft light source on the subject, to subtly illuminate them without detracting from the Aurora’s glow. “I had a friend hold a flashlight to focus on her,” Menna notes of her subject. She adds that your subjects should also find a comfortable standing position, as they "will need to stand very still to prevent motion blur, so I usually suggest standing with hands in pockets."

Of course, if it's not possible to prevent motion blur completely, you could perhaps create something more abstract. For example, having a person move their hands can make the movement more intentional and part of the creative vision. If you use the settings recommended, when subjects move their hands, the camera will capture faint trails or blurs from the movement, adding an ethereal, almost painterly effect.

One other thing about shooting the Aurora: you have to be quick. As Menna puts it, “in the blink of an eye it can disappear.”

For post-processing, Menna kept her edits minimal. She enhanced highlights, reduced shadows, and adjusted vibrancy to bring out the colours of the Aurora and landscape. Shooting in RAW provides greater flexibility for adjustments in exposure, colour and contrast, helping to capture the full effect of the Northern Lights and other extreme natural phenomena such as volcanoes.

All Canon EOS R System mirrorless cameras support shooting in RAW format, which is crucial for post-processing flexibility. RAW files retain all the image data captured by the sensor, giving you more scope for adjustments in exposure, colour balance and noise reduction – key factors when dealing with the challenging lighting conditions of Northern Lights photography.

For refining your shots after you capture them, Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software offers robust tools tailored for RAW editing, including advanced noise reduction, highlight recovery and fine colour adjustments. See our tips and guidance for editing RAW images to help get the best from your shots.

To bring your images to life, you can print your pictures of the night sky. The 45MP images from the Canon EOS R5 enable high-quality prints that showcase fine details, true-to-life colours and excellent contrast – ideal for large-format prints that immerse viewers in the scene. The 24.2MP images from the Canon EOS R8 are ample for prints up to A2 size, with clarity and depth to share the beauty of the Northern Lights in strikingly realistic quality.

For the best results, using high-quality photo paper, such as Canon’s Pro Platinum or Pro Luster, will enhance colour depth and luminance, bringing the ethereal glow of the Aurora Borealis to life on paper and ensuring you not only capture the Aurora’s beauty but also provide lasting quality, whether in fine art prints or large displays.

By following these tips and settings, you’ll be well-prepared to capture the Northern Lights and create stunning Aurora Borealis photography that’s ready to share and print.