The Yukon's Northern Lights

[Phil Hart]

Well there's nothing like a deadline to force you to finish something ;).

One day I will finish the full length seven minute version of this, but an internet audience does not care much for seven minute videos, so here is the best of my Aurora Adventures in the Yukon in two minutes. Turn up the rockin' soundtrack by talented friend Dean Roberts..

https://vimeo.com/67365726

Some stills attached also, from the Gallery on Smugmug (http://philhart.smugmug.com/Aurora/Aurora-in-the-Yukon/29737403_qhvGdR#!i=2547015805&k=VzBqRPC).

Phil

[iceman]

Holy cow, that's amazing Phil. Thoroughly beautiful and enjoyable.

[h0ughy]

pardon me but thats bl00dy unreal!!!!!!!!!

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Mike and Houghy. I like it (and it's been an unbelievable amount of work!) but you never know whether people have seen enough aurora videos yet.. so glad to hear it still comes across well.

[Ric]

Wonderful images Phil.

I have never seen an aurora live but your images make me determined to do so.

[gary]

Hi Phil,

Absolutely fabulous. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Look forward to that seven minute "director's cut" one day, but if that 2 minutes
of time lapse had been all that you had ever taken, then the audience would still
be applauding well after the curtain closed.

Best Regards

Gary

[beren]

:thumbsup: Awesome images/timelapse , I'd love to travel through that area thank's for sharing

[CapturingTheNight]

Simply sublime. A brilliant effort Phil (but you already knew that) :bowdown:

[alexch]

Wonderful and masterfully put together sequence, Phil! The music suits as well. Thanks for very enjoyable two minutes at the computer screen :)

Alex

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Ric.. make sure you do it properly. Don't go for just three nights!



Kind words Gary.. thanks!



Thanks.. the Yukon would be amazing to see in summer too. Pretty desolate in large parts in winter.



Thanks Greg!



Thanks Alex.. I've taken a good deal of inspiration from your timelapse processing along the way. So damn time consuming doing it well though!

[Forgey]

Love it! You've put that together beautifully Phill. Nicely done :)

[Larryp]

Fantastic photos, Phil! Video is superb.

[gregbradley]

A masterpiece Phil. My wife loved it as well. Stunningly good. Its totally pro and totally artistic.

Love the music too.

Greg.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Forgey!



Thanks again Larry!



Cheers Greg.. music is such a personal thing so glad this track works for you. It was all Dean's work.. I didn't even try to define what I wanted.

[Craige]

Amazing Phil! Absolutely beautiful.

[Joshua Bunn]

thouroughly enjoyable Phil, thankyou. I recon the music matched the mood and auroras well.

Josh

[seeker372011]

Brilliant. May I ask how you managed to keep the lens fom dewing up? Or is it so cold that doesn't happen?

And doesn't battery life drop sharply with temperature? How did you manage they ?

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Craige and Josh!



Dew certainly isn't a problem.. but the frozen equivalent in frost is a little. But the air is generally quite dry so it doesn't form quickly. So early in the night I could often get away without dew heaters, but I did use them on the cameras setup for all night seqeunces, and otherwise was swapping lenses etc a fair bit which helped.

Battery life in the newer cameras is just amazing. At home I might expect four hours of continuous night shooting out of the batteries in my 5D Mark II. Even at -15/-20C I could still get two hours and at -35C I was still getting an hour. Lithium batteries rock for cold temps!

The accrued punishment of nine weeks doing that seems to have taken it's toll on the batteries as I only get two hours rather than four out of them at home now.

[Paul Haese]

Nice video Phil. I really like the sequences and I am glad I did not enter one of my videos as this is just so much better. Colouring is great too.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Paul. Entering is good exposure and practice, and David might not like the music :-)

I'm presenting in Parkes so I'll be there whatever happens. Hope to see you there..

Phil

[Adelastro1]

Gorgeous Phil. Makes me wish I was there! And I love the music too, matches it very well.

[erick]

Absolutely excellent Phil! Increases my desire to see this sight myself one day.

[multiweb]

Great video Phil. :thumbsup: Where's the part with the panning on the frozen lake and the reflections in between the snow bits. I thought that was uber-cool. Not in the final? C'mon! :P :lol:

[Big Dave]

Sweet.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Wayne!



Just don't expect it to look like the photos! :-) The movement to the eye is great but you rarely get colours naked eye.



Thanks Marc. I'm trying not to repeat footage from the other videos.. that would get boring :-). So this is the best of the yukon excluding that which i've published already. In the full length version of this there may be some repeat of previous footage but I still have a lot of other clips to work with.



:)

[CapturingTheNight]

....are you saying that I am going to have to pick my jaw up off the floor AGAIN, when you get around to processing more of this? ;)

[Phil Hart]

Well.. I think this video has most of the jaw-dropping stuff. Hopefully some of the rest of it will still at least make you smile :-).

[CometGuy]

Unreal Phil, thanks for bring this to us!

[atalas]

Wow!they are just stunning shots Phil!

[Octane]

Mind blown to smithereens.

Outstanding!

H

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Terry, Louie and H.!

I've added a bit more description about the clips in the video on my site now:

http://philhart.com/content/yukons-northern-lights

[geoffsims]

Is great to read the write up and see some still shots!

The moonrise one is still my favourite scene with all the various colours green-blue-white-yellow. Is the yellow on the right light pollution? Can't believe I would say this, but I think it actually makes the shot.

[RickS]

Fantastic video, Phil! Makes me nostalgic for our trip to Scandinavia last year.

[DavidTrap]

Stunning! I'm crossing fingers and toes that I'll get to see the aurora in Iceland next March.

DT

[Phil Hart]

I know the feeling! It's addictive but having this as a record sure helps. I can remember most of the moments in the clip like they were yesterday.



Sounds exciting.. how long will you be there for?

[DavidTrap]

Ten day photography workshop. Might be lucky, but 100% chance of not seeing it by staying in Brisbane!

DT

[Phil Hart]

Well ten days is a good start.. especially if you have some flexibility to drive opposite prevailing winds? But that can be a long way around the Iceland coast!

[Peter Ward]

Sorry Phil...missed this. (so many posts..so little time..)

Looks *very* cold (kills noise, but plays hell on batteries etc. )....yet a simply excellent result

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Peter.. time is a problem! I certainly don't see everything (or even most things) that come through these pages but there is a lot of good stuff!

I love cold, but some nights were pretty challenging. Sleeping was generally hardest.. it's a lot easier to stay warm when you're wearing a snow suit and lugging gear up and down hills through deep snow.

I meant to do more noise tests than I managed, but with short timelapse exposures dark noise is not too much of a problem even at mild temps. And lithium batteries in modern cameras perform remarkably well.. but they've never been quite the same since that trip! :lol:

[Phil Hart]

Yes.. it is light pollution from Whitehorse. That's the problem when all the streetlights reflect off snow! It's a town of 20,000 people in a territory the size of Victoria (that is otherwise almost empty) and Alaska and the North West Territory beside it have even larger regions of almost nothing!

I also updated this page with a pic for you - of me setting up and all suited up:

http://philhart.com/content/yukons-northern-lights

[Ross G]

Amazing photos Phil.

Ross.

[ourkind]

Speechless but here goes... I really can't think of a word descriptive enough to compliment these stunning images. Pure art!

[colinmlegg]

Lovely Phil! After driving for 4 days I finally saw it on a proper screen with sound. Music is great and those ribbon shots are killer. Nice mood to the whole piece. Well done :)