My week of photography on Hive - shooting Aurora and twisted forests

This week started off in a mundane way at work on a Monday and very quickly turned to bouncing off the ceiling in the evening!

An unexpected Aurora Borealis!

Living in the north of England as I do, it's not that far north that I get to see Auroras very often. So on Monday evening I was out in the dark with my camera shooting trees with lights when a message came through from @inksurgeon to say there had been an Aurora red alert and that I should get my ass over to Ladybower Reservoir to shoot it!

I quickly packed up my gear and almost ran up the hill back to the car, driving as fast as I could to Ladybower to see if I could catch an Aurora sky.

I managed to get on to the Reservoir and set up. I haven't shot an Aurora before but I know enough about photography to give me a clue about what settings to use. I went for exposure times varying between 13 and 20 seconds to avoid the stars appearing to trail but long enough to capture the light in the sky. I left the lens aperture wide open at f2.8 to let in as much light as possible.

This is what I got:

The Tower

Once I grabbed a few shots above, I repositioned and set this composition up. The clouds were starting to roll in by this time and I had to work fast.

I set up a small RGB LED panel in front of this reservoir tower (at least that's what I think it's called) and set the power to 5% so as not to blow out the brickwork during a long exposure.

I think I prefer this composition to the first one but I cursed on the night for not bring a wider angle lens!

I grabbed another. Given the short notice I got what I could. Given more notice next time (if there is a next time) I'll try to think more about location and foreground composition!

The Fibonacci Tree

Later in the week after I'd come down from the high of seeing an Aurora, I took another trip to Padley Gorge to finish off what I'd started.

I've been wandering all over Padley Gorge for the last few weeks looking for compositions and waiting for the autumn to arrive. I keep going back to check if the leaves are turning. Not yet it seems.

I find shooting trees in forests a little more of a challenge and finding compositions isn't as easy as you might think. I've been living out of my comfort zone and I have to say it's getting easier. I love this one with a fibonacci curve leading the viewer's eye around the frame!

Stumped

This tree has been a favourite and I will keep coming back in autumn and winter to try again. The idea behind this shot is to have the fern as foreground interest but the only fern I could find with any autumnal colour was this scrawny thing. Note to self, buy a wider lens!

Not so much back to my roots but tripping over them!

As I entered through a gate in Padley, I always have to look down to where I'm walking because I'm guaranteed to go flying over one of these tree roots!

Go with the flow

On this trip to Padley, I only managed one or two shots of the brook running through the Gorge. I'm still on the lookout for a decent place to point and shoot but this was good practice for next time.

On the drive home

If you're driving along a Peak District road and see a sunset, it would be remiss of you not to jump out of the car and shoot it! Not the world's best but it's a reminder to myself about this location for another time.

About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex, landscape and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; the social side of photography is always good!

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/