Kings Beach now with video

[Paul Haese]

Went to a new spot last night which overlooks West Island and has a nice unobstructed view of the horizon.

I got to the site just after dark and I had hoped I could detect the aurora at KP5 even during the moon light. Sadly this was just very faint so I had to wait until moonset. During the time that elapsed the geomagnetic storm subsided to eventually be around KP3 at moonset. There was good airglow and barely any aurora left but it was there. This image is part of a time lapse I did of the event and the auroral crown is easily seen in that.

I eventually left the site at 130am and headed home knowing that I had captured something but once again missed a full burst of KP5 event with a great horizon.

I have tried to keep the processing subtle. I did not need to do much saturation as it was just so saturated straight of the camera. Some slight curves work and some noise control. All in photoshop.

Click here for video (https://vimeo.com/66546784)of aurora. Look to middle of panel near the horizon. Now flicker free video

[Larryp]

Very nice, Paul

[Peter.M]

Used to surf down at kings head whenever i got the chance, great spot.

[DavidU]

Nice one Paul.

[gregbradley]

That's a very good shot Paul. I can see some red aurora still on the horizon.

The image looks very clean.

Greg.

[astronobob]

Nice shot & interesting sky colours Paul, so, there is actually aurora in this ? sorry if silly question , ,

[Paul Haese]

I'll need to upload a video so you can see it. Thanks guys

[lacad01]

Beauty of a shot, very nice :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Strong airglow, nice shot!

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys, I have added a video to the first post. It shows the aurora as being quite faint, but you can see it.

[colinmlegg]

Nice Paul. Maybe include a bit more foreground in the crop...2 to 3 times as much. Also, you have some flicker in the moonlit section. Were you adjusting exposures? Is your lens wide open?

[ourkind]

Very nice Pauk well done.

[SkyViking]

Wow, some pretty intense colours in that shot Paul. Nicely done :)

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments.



The crop in the video is windows movie maker issue. I am going to need to invest in another program to get the sort of framing options I want. Unless this can be sorted in WMM. It has taken some time to decipher. The previous version was quite good, but the win 7 version has knobs on it.

You are right about the flicker, there is two problems there. One area of flicker happened for no apparent reason prior to my adjusting the exposure. I had my WB set to sunny day as normal and all other parameters as per normal and I found this flicker; very odd. As the moon set I ramped that in as best as I could to simulate natural darkening. The D4 unfortunately cannot give me complete ramping like a Canon can, but I can live with that. I adjusted the exposure from 10 seconds to 13, then to 15 then 20 and finally 25 seconds over the course of half an hour. The big step from 15-20 seconds (the only option available) present exposure issues. I need to invest in lightroom to do the exposure compensation to remove the flicker. Might look into that this week.

[colinmlegg]

And your lens was wide open? If not, that can be a source of flicker. With 1/2 moon -> no moon, you should be able to keep the same exposure settings throughout and add the ramp in post. Your moon image will start overexposed, but not blown out, so applying a smooth keyframe ramp in post will simulate the natural darkening. I normally do that if the moon is between 35 % and 60%.

GBdeflicker is a good option for reducing flicker if you have one of the video editing packages.

[Paul Haese]

Yep wide open at f2.8 (using a 14-24 Nikon)

Thanks for the tips on flicker. Had not considered just start at over exposed. This is only a short snippet of the entire event. The whole video is 48 seconds long. I will use your tip from now on. More to learn.:)

[gregbradley]

That looks great Paul.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks for the tip Colin on this, I bought the stand alone version today and the link at the start of the thread now has a flicker free version. Thanks for sharing this information.:thumbsup:

[adavis]

Very nice, great colours. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Greg and Andrew.

[CapturingTheNight]

Great work Paul. I was lucky enough to be in Tasmania for this one.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Greg, I just saw your image. Certainly a similar display to what I saw at Penola on 1 March this year. The moon set occurred later for me too and I missed the best part of the activity. In the video you can see the auroral crown was a lot higher up in the moon light. Oh well next time.

[Paul Haese]

It seems there is some problem with my video not being HD on vimeo. I am attempting to resolve the problem. Stay tuned.

[Ross G]

Nice photo Paul.

I like the colours and composition.

Video looks good.

Ross.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Ross.

[astronobob]

Hey Paul, That Vid is really showing some real coool Aurora capers, & is facinating to see :2thumbs: Apart from the colours and activity etc, seeing the Aurora from that distance is quite remarkable, I know they are active in the very upper reaches of the atmosphere, tho I for one didnt think the curtains could be had , allowing for the curvature of Earth etc, ,
Dam Niiice Show and capturing Paul :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Bob, my dad was telling just last week how when he was a kid they could see aurora from Brighton in Adelaide. He talked about the curtains and how bright it was. No double this was a KP index of around 7 or 8. During the last cycle there was a display visible to the north of Adelaide. That was a KP7

Recently on 1 March I saw a display at KP5 and captured a green aurora with red on top.

Last year in August I got a capture from my house at Clayton Bay. It was quite visible and appeared grey to the eye.

The upshot is that given the right conditions you can see bright aurora from this neck of the woods. This display was minor and I am hoping for another chance or two yet for a bright display.:)