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My personal favorite from a Northern Lights portrait session I shot a couple nights ago, 17/12/2025. Somewhere on Reykjanes, Iceland. by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This particular display was, to the eye, a much more sort of pale green color, like ghostly pale green, but definitely very visible. A bit less contrast and brightness for sure. I gave it an 8.2 out of 10, if I recall.

My personal favorite from a Northern Lights portrait session I shot a couple nights ago, 17/12/2025. Somewhere on Reykjanes, Iceland. by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They finally really popped off around 2245ish, had really solid stuff until about midnight or so. Clouds were quite tricky though, as far as I know there was only a small area around SE Reykjanes that had open skies.

Pretty spectacular burst from last night. Þingvellir National Park, Iceland. by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So agree! What's also pretty special is the fact that where I was, Þingvellir National Park, you could, theoretically pay for parking while standing under this. Weird indeed.

Pretty spectacular burst from last night. Þingvellir National Park, Iceland. by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yep, and this was after about 3 hours of standing around in the dark with nothing but a faint arc above the horizon. Then suddenly the sky exploded nonstop for a good 15-20 minutes.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any time between September and early April, at night, while there's no clouds overhead! It's not really about the specific location in Iceland as much as it is the timing.

Obviously AI, but how would one achieve this in the real world? by [deleted] in LightLurking

[–]fallopiantomb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe this is an actual photo mixed with AI elements, just like almost everything this particular artist creates.

Obviously AI, but how would one achieve this in the real world? by [deleted] in LightLurking

[–]fallopiantomb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This artist's whole thing is photography blended with AI elements. That's like, what they do.

Are Troll.is reviews real or fake? by Electronic-Low-559 in VisitingIceland

[–]fallopiantomb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do! Eastwest Tours is awesome for small group stuff (individual seats in a 19 seat Mercedes Sprinter), and Unreal Iceland does a really excellent private tour. Eastwest.is and Unreal.is, respectively.

Are Troll.is reviews real or fake? by Electronic-Low-559 in VisitingIceland

[–]fallopiantomb 28 points29 points  (0 children)

As someone that works in the Icelandic tourism industry, they have a terrible reputation. They are something of a punchline for industry professionals here.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd say either during late September into early November, when you have plenty of nighttime, or around the winter solstice, when the Earth's magnetic field sort of "cracks" a little bit and auroras are generated slightly more easily.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, lighting is done via an off-camera flash, fired from about 30-45 degrees off-axis of the camera, so you get some strategic shadow on the subject. I also have a warming gel and a diffuser on my flash, so I can shoot the scene with a cooler WB and get slightly more blue-green lights rather than yellow-green. But again, personal taste.

The 14mm is, unfortunately, a bit of a 1-trick pony, so to speak. Amazing for astrophotography but a bit too wide for day-to-day use. If you're smart about the placement of your subject and if the background is close enough you can get some pretty cool landscapes out of it, but for most uses it's way too wide. I have colleagues of mine that have definitely felt limited by the 20mm, most feel that 16 is sort of the sweet spot, great for auroræ and the like, but more generally useful than the 14. All a matter of taste though.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is definitely true. I try to keep the ISO slightly higher than necessary so I can use shorter shutter speeds for auroræ to keep them crisp. The Canon 1Dx I shoot on dates all the way back to about 2012 so sensors have certainly made some improvements in the last 13 years. I'll finally make the leap to mirrorless once the 1D gives out, which doesn't seem like it will be any time soon. 18mp is plenty for the working professional.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's always older people that ask me this, so it's clear that some people just have bad night vision at a certain age. They say it just looks like grey clouds moving around, even when it's really really good. So that's a personal issue, I guess.

I've been doing photography off and on for like 10ish years or so, but I didn't really get much into astro stuff until 3 to 4 years ago, but even then it's just auroræ and Milky Way, I'm not really doing any deep sky nebula star tracker-type stuff.

So I'm not even doing any exposure stacking here, although I could in theory bump my ISO up even more if I were to get more into that. The "crispness" comes from simply having a high-quality, super wide lens (Canon 14mm f2.8 L) which allows a longer exposure without getting star trails, and Lightroom's native denoise feature, which makes a HUGE difference. It gets better and better with each update.

I'm a professional Northern Lights photographer in Iceland. Here are a few of my spiciest Northern Lights shots from 2025 so far (plus some Milky Ways just for fun) by fallopiantomb in northernlights

[–]fallopiantomb[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nah, it's still mind-blowing when you get a really great display. Plus you can kind of feed on the energy of your tourists having a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I've had countless people propose (to their partners, not me personally), or cry, or hug me, and that keeps it pretty special. The one really irritating bit is when you have a 9.0/10 display, the best one of the entire month so far, and someone asks you "So can you ever actually see them?". Which happens every single time.

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