All future correspondence should be addressed to the following:
Mrs Frances Taylor
℅ The Bog
Thordale
Picolax – “Holy crap on a cracker”, quite literally.
Anywho, hugging my hot water bottle, downloading games for my iPod to keep my occupied tonight, I thought I would bore you with more photos from two nights ago, when the Aurora Borealis put on probably one of its best displays.
Now these photos are a fairly accurate non-tweaked version of what you actually see. I am not a huge fan of photoshop or jazzing things up to look incredible, apart from the odd use of the sharpen tool. The Northern Lights are fabulous, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps not as vibrantly sensational that some would lead you to believe.
Here are two examples of the identical pics with a bit of “enhancement”. They just don’t look like that. I’m sorry but they don’t, well not outside my back door anyway.
Anywho, the Aurora is out of this world and very special. Gazing up to the stars watching this sky-show is like standing in a silent cathedral all by yourself. It puts the world into perspective.
Personally, I would also like a soundtrack to go with them too – some Elgar, perhaps!
I think the Lights are pretty spectacular in their natural state! One bitterly cold night in Minnesota my husband was out on an emergency vet call. He called me on the phone and woke me up to say, “Go outside!” The Lights were all white, no other colors, but covered the whole sky and were dancing around like crazy – the most active I’ve ever seen them.
Frances they are pretty stunning in your photos and I am soooo jealous. One day I WILL get to Shetland in the winter months and at least have a chance to see them. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for showing us what they really look like — I’ve only seen the time lapse footage and prettied up pics so far. I would love to see them for myself one day!
Actually, from late summer until April is the best time to see the northern lights in northern latitudes, so you don’t have to wait for winter! I’ve seen them at our cottage on Lake Ontario during the late summer, and I saw an absolutely stunning display a few years ago in August an hour north of Peterborough, ON at my sister-in-law’s house, which is still a good 16 degrees of latitude south of where Frances is! A dark, clear night (no moon is best) as far from city light pollution as possible is a basic requirement.
Ive a feeling you cant see them in Shetland in summer as it never actually goes dark through summer!
I think the photos look better un-sharped and without any jazzing up!
Those lights are actually pretty spectacular. Those enhanced pictures look quite beautiful too. That must have been a great scenery.