How to Photograph the Northern Lights in Iceland

Camera and Phone Settings

 

Photographing the Northern Lights in Iceland can feel intimidating, but it is far simpler than most people think. You do not need the newest $4,000 professional camera body to capture something breathtaking. What you do need is a solid grasp of a few exposure basics, a steady base, and the ability to adapt when the sky suddenly decides to put on a show.

I learned this firsthand back in March 2013 at Lake Kleifarvatn. Armed with an entry-level Canon EOS 400D and a basic 18–55mm kit lens, I managed to capture one of my first memorable aurora photos at f/3.5, ISO 1600, and a four-second exposure.

It was far from “ideal” gear, but it worked.

That night taught me a fundamental lesson: high-end equipment makes life easier, but knowing how to squeeze the absolute most out of the gear already in your bag is what actually gets you the shot.

  This is a photo from one of my first hunts, 
 in March 2013.

 Here i used a Canon 400D with the kit lens 
 EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

 This is shot at f3.5, 24mm, 1600 iso, and a 
 4 second exposure.

 Photo is taken at Kleifarvatn, a lake south 
 of Reykjavik, awesome place to go for night 
 photography in Iceland. 

The Quick-Start Aurora Settings Cheatsheet

If the lights are dancing right now and you need a fast starting point, set your camera to Manual Mode and dial in these base parameters:

• File Format: RAW (Essential for recovering dynamic range and fine-tuning white balance later)

• Aperture: f/1.4 to f/2.8 (Or the widest/lowest f-number your lens allows)

• ISO: 1600

• Shutter Speed: 4 seconds

• White Balance: Custom 3500K – 4500K

• Focus: Manual (Focused precisely on a bright star or distant light)

• Image Stabilization: OFF (When mounted on a tripod)

• Shutter Release: 2-second timer or remote trigger

Pro Tip: Treat these numbers as a baseline test shot, not a set-it-and-forget-it rule. Northern Lights display massive variations in speed and intensity throughout a single night.”

 This shot is taken on a very still night and on a 
 full moon.
 
 I wanted to keep the details on all the trees while 
 getting some auroa in there as well.
 
 The gear used is a Canon Eos 6D and a Samyang 14mm 
 f2.8 lens and a carbon fiber tripod plus a remote 
 shutter release.

 This is shot at f7.1, 14mm, 800 iso, and a 
 8 second exposure.
 

Adapting Your Settings to Sky Conditions

The biggest mistake photographers make is dialing in one “good” exposure and keeping it locked all night. An active display can shift from a slow, faint haze to an explosive, fast-moving curtain in seconds.

Sky Scenario	Aperture	Shutter Speed	ISO Range	Focus & Workflow Notes
Faint / Faint Static Arc	Widest (f/1.4 – f/2.8)	8–15 seconds	ISO 1600–6400	Longer shutter pulls light out of a dim sky; watch for star trailing beyond 15s.
Moderate / Classic Display	Widest (f/1.4 – f/2.8)	3–8 seconds	ISO 800–3200	Balanced exposure preserving both detail and manageable sensor noise.
Strong, Fast-Dancing Ribbons	Widest (f/1.4 – f/2.8)	1–3 seconds	ISO 400–1600	Short shutter speed preserves the crisp vertical texture and “curtains” of light.
Explosive Corona / Bright Burst	f/2.0 – f/4.0	0.5–1 second	ISO 200–800	Fast shutter prevents clipping the green channel; preserves sharp ray detail overhead.
Urban Aurora (Over Reykjavík)	f/2.0 – f/4.0	1–5 seconds	ISO 400–1600	Narrower aperture/lower ISO prevents city streetlights from blowing out.
Bright Moonlit Landscape	f/2.0 – f/4.0	1–5 seconds	ISO 400–1600	Moonlight acts as a natural spotlight. Use Autofocus on the bright landscape or horizon before locking to Manual. Lower your ISO to keep noise low, and enjoy detailed foregrounds. Watch out for faint auroras getting washed out by the moonlight.

When Can You See the Aurora in Iceland?

The Northern Lights occur year round, but to capture them with a camera, you need genuine darkness.

• The Season: Late August through late April. During the peak summer months (May through July), Iceland experiences the midnight sun, meaning the sky never gets dark enough for auroral visibility.

• Peak Hours: Statistically, geomagnetic activity often spikes around 11:00 PM, making 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM a great window to be out. However, treat this as a guideline rather than a strict schedule—displays can flare up at dusk or break through lingering clouds at 3:00 AM.

• Patience Wins: Some of the most dramatic photos happen after waiting through hours of seemingly inactive sky.

 

How to Read Icelandic Aurora & Weather Forecasts

Don’t just open a phone app, glance at a single number, and call it a night. Successfully hunting the lights comes down to reading three layers of information in order of importance:

1. Cloud Cover (The True Decider)

A solar storm with a massive Kp rating is useless if you are standing under 100% low-cloud cover. Check the Icelandic Meteorological Office (Veðurstofa Íslands / vedur.is). Their dedicated aurora forecast map separates cloud layers into Low, Mid, and High.

• On the Icelandic map, green represents clouds and white represents clear sky.

• Use the time slider to track opening gaps. Weather in Iceland moves rapidly; a cloudy sky in Reykjavík doesn’t mean the whole night is lost. Clearer pockets are often just a short drive away.

2. Darkness & Light Pollution

While dark skies increase the visual contrast of faint auroras, you do not always need to drive hours into the highlands. A strong display can cut right through city light pollution, creating striking photos framed by urban architecture or coastlines.

3. Solar Activity & Real-Time Data

The Kp Index (scaled 0–9) measures global geomagnetic activity, but it isn’t a pinpoint weather radar. In Iceland, because of its high latitude, you can get incredible photographic displays even on a “low” Kp 1 or Kp 2 night.

If you want to look at solar wind data, pay attention to Bz (Interplanetary Magnetic Field orientation). When the Bz points sharply south (a negative value), it opens up Earth’s magnetic field, allowing solar wind to interact with our atmosphere and trigger vivid displays.

Local Weather Forecast – Check the weather forecast

 

What to Wear & Field Equipment Checklist

Since you are traveling to Iceland for this experience, you likely already know our weather has a reputation. But as someone who spends countless cold nights out here, a few ground rules are worth keeping in mind before packing your gear:

• Four Seasons in One Hour: Icelandic weather shifts rapidly. The good news? If the sky doesn’t look promising right now, don’t give up immediately. Conditions can become clear in just a few minutes so keeping an eye on live forecasts always pays off.

• Dress Colder Than the Thermometer Says: When you’re out photographing, you stand still in one spot for hours rather than moving around like you would on a hike. Put on more insulating layers than you think you need.

• Respect the Windchill: The moment you leave the shelter of the city, the coastal wind makes temperatures feel much colder than the forecast states.

• The “Dry Car” Trick: Pack an extra set of clothes, along with a spare pair of dry socks and comfortable sneakers, to leave in the car. If your boots get wet in wet snow or coastal spray, switching into dry shoes for the drive home is a game changer.

• Keep Lighting Simple: You don’t need fancy specialized lighting gear. A solid LED headlamp (ideally with a low or red-light setting so you don’t blind other photographers), a bright pocket flashlight, and your smartphone light are more than enough.

 

Camera Hardware Checklist:

• Manual Camera Body: Full frame sensors offer superior high ISO noise control, but modern APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras perform brilliantly when paired with fast glass.

• Fast, Wide-Angle Lens:

  • Full frame equivalent: 14mm–24mm

  • Maximum aperture: f/1.4 to f/2.8 preferred.

• Heavy-Duty Tripod: Iceland is infamous for sudden arctic coastal gusts. A flimsy travel tripod will cause micro-shake or, worse, blow over completely. Keep the center column down, and consider weighting the tripod hook with your camera bag.

• Remote Release or Shutter Delay: Pressing the shutter button introduces subtle vibrations. Use a 2-second built-in timer, a cable release, or a smartphone camera control app.

• Spare Warm Batteries: Lithium-ion batteries drain rapidly in freezing temperatures. Keep spare batteries inside an interior coat pocket close to your body heat until the moment you swap them.

• Lens Microfiber Cloths: Condensation, sea spray, and sleet build up fast. Bring multiple clean microfiber cloths in a sealed zip bag.

 

Step-by-Step Camera Setup Guide

 

Step 1: Switch to Manual Exposure (M)

Automatic, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority modes struggle in low-light environments, often trying to overexpose the night sky into a grainy grey scene. Manual mode gives you complete authority over your exposure variables.

Step 2: Set RAW Image Quality

RAW files capture uncompressed sensor data, giving you the latitude required in post-processing to balance dark shadows, manage green highlight clipping, adjust white balance natively, and execute clean noise reduction.

Step 3: Open Your Aperture Wide

Set your lens to its lowest possible f-number (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8). This maximizes light intake, allowing you to use lower ISO settings and shorter shutter speeds.

Step 4: Dial In Base ISO 1600

Start at ISO 1600. If the display is faint or your lens only opens to f/3.5 or f/4, push to ISO 3200 or 6400. If the aurora bursts bright overhead or you are shooting over snow/city lights, lower your ISO to 800 to keep the image clean.

Step 5: Dial In a 4-Second Shutter Speed

Take a test shot. If the image is underexposed and the lights are slow-moving, extend your shutter to 8 seconds. If the ribbons are moving rapidly, shorten the shutter to 1–2 seconds and bump up your ISO to freeze the fine structure.

Step 6: Lock Your White Balance (3500K–4500K)

Auto White Balance (AWB) can shift wildly between frames as the aurora flares. Setting a fixed Kelvin temperature between 3500K and 4500K ensures consistency across your shoot, keeping night skies a natural deep navy blue rather than a muddy orange or sickly green.

Step 7: Turn Off Image Stabilization

When a camera is locked tightly to a sturdy tripod, optical image stabilization (IS/VR/IBIS) can mistakenly search for motion that isn’t there, creating subtle feedback vibration that softens your stars. Turn it off.

Step 8: Monitor Your RGB Histogram

Never trust how bright a photo looks on your camera screen in total darkness—your eyes are night-adapted, making dim photos look deceptive.

Always review your RGB Histogram. Aurora photography heavily saturates the green channel. If the green wave spikes hard against the right wall of the graph, you are “clipping” highlight detail, turning rich auroral structures into flat, blown-out featureless patches. Reduce your shutter speed or ISO immediately.

 

 

How to Get Pin-Sharp Focus in Total Darkness

Autofocus fails in low-light conditions. Do not rely on setting your lens to the printed infinity symbol (∞), as modern thermal-expansion lens designs often allow focusing past infinity.

The Live View Star Method:

1. Switch your lens/camera to Manual Focus (MF).

2. Turn on Live View on your rear screen or electronic viewfinder (EVF).

3. Find the brightest star in the sky, the moon, or a distant light source on the horizon.

4. Use your camera’s zoom/magnify button to zoom in to maximum digital magnification (5x or 10x) on that light point.

5. Slowly adjust your focus ring until the star transitions from a blurry disc into the smallest, sharpest pinprick point of light possible.

6. Take a test exposure, zoom in to review, and once confirmed, place a small strip of gaffer tape across your focus ring to lock it down for the night.

How to Photograph the Aurora with a Smartphone

Modern flagship smartphones can pull surprisingly vibrant aurora images out of the dark sky thanks to advanced computational night modes and stacked long exposures.

Shooting with iPhone (Night Mode & Apple ProRAW)

1. Use a Tripod / Mount: Handholding a phone forces the system to limit exposure times. Securing the phone to a tripod allows iOS Night Mode to unlock extended 10 to 30 second exposure brackets.

2. Set Exposure Time: Open the default Camera app in dark conditions. Tap the Night Mode icon (yellow moon) and slide the timer to its maximum available duration.

3. Use Apple ProRAW: If supported on your model, enable ProRAW in your camera settings to retain highlight detail in bright green patches.

4. Use a Timer: Set a 3 second self timer tap so your finger touching the screen doesn’t cause phone vibration at the start of the capture.

Shooting with Android (Google Pixel & Samsung Galaxy)

• Google Pixel (Astrophotography Mode): Open Night Sight. When the Pixel senses it is mounted completely motionless on a tripod, a star icon will appear, automatically activating Astrophotography Mode. This takes a sequence of exposures over roughly 4 minutes, merging them into a sharp image and short video clip. Note: If the aurora is dancing rapidly, standard Night Sight (3–5 seconds) will preserve more ribbon shape than the extended astro-stack.

• Samsung Galaxy / Pro Mode: Open Camera -> More -> Pro Mode.

  • File Format: RAW

  • ISO: 800–1600

  • Shutter Speed: 2–6 seconds

  • Focus: Manual (Slide focus control toward the far mountain icon/infinity setting until stars sharpen).

 

Composition: Creating Photographs with Context

A plain green sky with no reference point makes for a nice science document, but an engaging photograph needs scale, depth, and context.

• Anchor with Strong Foregrounds: Look for natural features like glacial lagoons (Jökulsárlón), volcanic rock formations, waterfalls, basalt columns, or isolated turf churches.

• Use Natural Reflections: Calm lakes, wet tidal black-sand beaches, and icy pools double the color impact by mirroring the aurora across the lower half of your frame.

• Incorporate Human Elements: A small red cabin with lit windows, an off-grid camper, or a lone photographer with a red headlamp adds scale and storytelling.

• Compose Wide & Frame Vertical: Auroras move fast and expand across massive arcs of sky. Shoot slightly wider than you think you need—you can always crop in post. Try vertical orientations when photographing tall overhead curtains or coronal explosions directly above you.

 

Shooting Within Reykjavík City Limits

You don’t always need to embark on a long countryside drive to catch a show. When a strong solar display hits, Reykjavík offers iconic urban backdrops that contrast city lights against arctic skies.

Great City Spots:

• Grótta Lighthouse (Seltjarnarnes Peninsula): Located at the westernmost tip of the city area, offering minimal light pollution looking out toward the ocean.

• Sun Voyager (Sólfar) Sculpture: Combines the iconic steel Viking ship structure with northern skies over Mt. Esja.

• Harpa Concert Hall & Old Harbour: Features striking geometric glass reflections paired with water foregrounds.

• Hallgrímskirkja: Shooting from surrounding streets places the nation’s iconic church beneath dancing green skies.

 

 

Arctic Safety & Winter Fieldwork Essentials

Night photography in Iceland carries real physical risks. Cold, wind, and dark coastal terrain demand respect.

• Never Stop on Active Roads: If the aurora suddenly bursts while you are driving, do not slam on your brakes or park on the shoulder of the Ring Road. Pull into designated parking lots, rest areas, or wide paved pullouts completely off the traffic lanes.

• Turn The Headlights on While Driving: Auto will turn the lights on the front of the car on but not the rear lights, making you hard to see in poor conditions. 

• Respect the Ocean: Visiting coastal areas like Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach or Grótta at night requires extreme caution. Sneaker waves occur without warning, and high tides can trap photographers on tidal spits in total darkness.

• Check Road & Safety Portals Daily: Always review SafeTravel.is and road.is before heading out on winter drives.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Relying on Autopilot Settings: Leaving your camera on Auto ISO or Auto Focus almost guarantees blurry or underexposed shots.

2. Over-Exposing the Green Channel: Always check your RGB histogram. Blown-out greens cannot be recovered in post-processing.

3. Over-Editing: It is tempting to push Clarity, Dehazard, and Saturation sliders to maximum in editing software. This creates unnatural, neon-green “plastic” skies and harsh noise halos around stars. Strive for natural, clean contrast adjustments.

4. Forgetting to Look Up: It’s easy to spend three hours staring at a 3-inch camera screen tweaking settings. Don’t forget to step away from the tripod, take off your camera gear, and watch one of nature’s greatest spectacles unfold with your own eyes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I photograph the Northern Lights with a standard kit lens?

Yes. Set your lens to its widest focal length (e.g., 18mm), open the aperture as wide as it goes (usually f/3.5), mount the camera on a sturdy tripod, and use ISO 1600–3200 with a 4 to 8 second shutter speed.

What ISO is best for Northern Lights photography?

ISO 1600 is the most versatile starting point on modern cameras. Depending on your lens aperture and the brightness of the display, you may range from ISO 400 (for extremely bright bursts) up to ISO 6400 (for dim, slow-moving arcs).

Should I use autofocus for night photography?

No. Camera autofocus systems require contrast and light to lock on, which fails in night conditions. Switch your lens to Manual Focus (MF), magnify a bright star on your rear screen, and focus manually until the star forms a sharp pinprick point.

Why do my aurora photos look brighter on camera than to my eyes?

Human eyes see in real-time and struggle to process deep color in low light. Camera sensors collect light over several seconds, accumulating photons to reveal vivid greens, purples, and deep reds that appear more subtle to the naked human eye.

 

Spaceweather.com – Check for big events

Using SpaceWeather.com for Real-Time Solar Alerts

While local weather forecasts tell you about clouds, SpaceWeather.com is one of the best tools for tracking what the Sun is actually doing.

When you look at SpaceWeather.com, don’t worry about trying to understand every single scientific chart. Focus on these key details:

1. Solar Wind Speed: Normal solar wind moves around 300-400km/s. When a solar stream or CME (coronal mass ejection) hits and pushes that speed up above 500-600km/s, you are in for a much brighter, more active display.

2. The Bz Vector (IMF Direction): This is one of the most useful numbers for aurora photographers. You want to see the Bz pointing South (a negative number). When Bz turns negative, it connects with Earth’s magnetic field like a key in a lock, allowing solar particles to pour in and ignite the sky.

3. CME Warnings & Alerts: SpaceWeather lists upcoming Coronal Mass Ejections and gives estimated arrival times. If a CME is forecasted to hit Earth during your trip, make sure you are charged up and ready to go outside that evening.

My Personal Approach: I use cloud forecasts (like Vedur.is) to find where the sky will be open, and then I check SpaceWeather.com to know how energetic the lights are likely to be once I get there.”

 

Local Weather Forecast – Check the weather forecast

 

How to Read the Vedur.is Map & Forecast Slider

On the map, you can see current conditions and use the interactive slider at the bottom to step through the forecast for the coming hours.

While the main overview gives you a great general idea of what to expect, you can also select specific regions of the country for a much more detailed local view.

Don’t ignore the text forecast written below the map! If the Icelandic Meteorological Office issues any weather warnings, they will appear right in the written section or highlighted in bold above the map image.

I always recommend reading the text forecast—it provides crucial context and is consistently more accurate and informative than relying on the visual map alone.

 

 Aurora Forecast – Check the cloud and aurora borealis forecast Iceland