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I was actually hoping to go out tonight after dark because the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) were supposed to be more intense...
But, my friend, Brenda Murrell, was available, and willing, to go out last night, so, at the end of regulation time in the Oilers-Canucks playoff game, we left about 11pm. We tuned into 630 CHED a tad late to catch the overtime winning goal for the Oilers by Evan Bouchard... Go Oilers Go!!!!
Because I have not known the surrounding area for 24 years, I trusted Brenda to find a dark location away from the city lights, and I paid for the gas...
She went west to the Devon turnoff, then we swung north until the road ended. We were not the only people to come to this spot and newcomer headlights were an unwelcome distraction.
I had the new Nikon D850 set up on a tripod with remote switch, and set at parameters as suggested online, with all settings for long exposures. But even a 20-second exposure did not bring up anything.... I was flabbergasted at that, and am quite unhappy with that camera!
I had my old Nikon D5600 on my shoulder to try to take some videos too. But I was soon to find the old gal would do me great service...
The sky was relatively clear for a while and the Aurora was really less spectacular to the naked eye than the 3 other times I have viewed them, in Calgary, Edmonton, and at Baptiste Lake.
I had set up the D5600 on a night landsacpe setting, and the view north with dancing green streaks was, in my view, disappointing.
I looked behind us, to the south, and could see the better possibilities that direction. I fired off a hand-held (yes,.... HAND HELD) shot with the D5600, against all probabilities, and was absolutely shocked at the colour images that showed on my tiny screen!!! I braced myself on the top of the D850 on the tripod and took a few more hand-held shots, all returning amazing colour that we could not actually see..!!!!
Then I removed the D850 and put the D5600 on the tripod but still had to manually fire shots because I had not though of the need to bring its remote control...
Somewhere around 1am, our light show was petering out so we returned, and I was so keyed up that I processed the photos until 5am this morning. Shooting in RAW format gives so many options for processing and the ability to really bring out the colours is enhanced exponentially.
I awoke this morning almost coughing from the smell of smoke. Alexa had a health advisory issued by Environment Canada which she later extended until tomorrow.... So, I am obviously very lucky that we went out last night because the chances of seeing anything tonight is now very, very low.....
I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.
Al
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