Hvalnesviti

This was the shot that concluded my first experience of the Northern Lights, as seen at Hvalnes Lighthouse, Iceland.

A group of 5 of us had been on the road all day and had seen (in my opinion) one of the most amazing sunsets ever - panorama to follow. We were partly anticipating seeing the lights, but half resigned to calling it a night for some much needed sleep. Thankfully we checked outside one last time before bed.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect and to the eye, the 'lights' at first seemed like quite dull, linear white clouds. When photographed with a camera at relatively high sensitivity, the brightness and colours really popped out.

We saw the 'lights' on two more evenings, with the last evening being much brighter and more spectacular.

Shot with a Samyang 14mm (fully manual prime lens) at F/2.8 Perspective 'corrected' in Photoshop CS6 and horizon straightened manually with the liquify tool. Greens selected and enhanced separately.