Photographing the northern lights from your hotel room: is it really possible?

Why most hotel rooms are not ideal

The biggest problem when photographing the northern lights from a hotel room is usually not your camera, but the ambient light.

From a room in the middle of a city you often look at street lighting, other buildings, traffic and illuminated facades. As a result it is not dark enough outside to see faint polar light well. What you might still just see with the naked eye as a grey or green haze can disappear completely in the glow of the city.

Photographing through glass also causes extra problems. The window can reflect light from your room, change colours and make stars and the northern lights less sharp. That makes reflections or blurry photos more likely, especially when you work with a long shutter speed.

Do you still want to photograph through the window? Then turn off all lights in the room and hold the lens as close to the glass as possible. But for the best photos it is almost always better to go outside.

The location of your hotel makes the difference

Where you stay is therefore much more important than many people think.

A hotel room on a mountain slope with a clear view over water and little lighting around is a completely different situation from a hotel room in a busy city centre. That applies both in northern Norway and in, for example, Finnish Lapland, Swedish Lapland, Iceland and other destinations around the Arctic Circle.

Wood Hotel Bodø lies on Rønvikfjellet, above the city of Bodø, with a wide view over the Vestfjord and the mountains of Børvasstindene. Thanks to that higher location there is less direct city light between you and the horizon. You also look out over a large, open landscape instead of at buildings.

That increases the chance that you can see the northern lights from the hotel. For a really beautiful photo, however, the balcony or a dark spot directly outside the hotel is usually better than photographing behind the window.

Your composition also becomes more interesting outside. Think of mountains, trees or another subject in the foreground, with the northern lights and the stars above. It is precisely that combination that often makes northern lights photography so much more beautiful than just a green sky.

Photographing the northern lights: which camera settings do you need?

When you photograph the northern lights, almost everything is about getting enough light onto the sensor without the photo being blurred or too bright.

A professional camera is nice, but you certainly do not always need one. A good mirrorless or DSLR camera does give you more control over the camera settings, for example over shutter speed, ISO, aperture, focus and exposure.

Start, for example, with a shutter speed between about 5 and 15 seconds. Is the polar light moving fast across the sky and quite bright? Then choose a shorter exposure time. With weaker and calmer northern lights a long exposure can actually help to bring out more colour.

For the ISO you can start around ISO 400 to 800 and then adjust. If the shot is too dark, you can raise the ISO. Keep in mind that a high ISO can cause more noise.

Open the aperture of your lens as far as possible. With many suitable lenses you end up at about f/2.8. The lower the f-number, the more light reaches the sensor.

Preferably use a wide-angle lens, because it lets you capture a lot of the sky and the landscape in one frame.

Focusing in the dark

Focusing is sometimes harder than expected during northern lights photography. Autofocus works excellently in daylight, but can struggle to find a subject in the dark.

So switch to manual focus. Find a bright star, zoom in digitally on the LCD screen of your camera if you like, and turn the focus ring until the star is displayed as small and sharp as possible.

You can set the lens to approximately infinity, but do not automatically assume that turning all the way to the infinity symbol is always perfectly sharp. So always check on the LCD screen after your first shot that the stars are actually sharp.

You can also look at the histogram to check that the exposure is not extremely dark or, on the contrary, overexposed.

A tripod is almost indispensable

A sturdy tripod is one of the most important tools when you want to photograph the northern lights. After all, you often work with a long shutter speed. Even a small movement can then cause motion blur.

If you use a camera on a tripod, you are better off switching off the image stabilisation of some lenses or cameras. With certain systems, image stabilisation on a completely stationary camera can try to make small corrections that are not needed.

Also touch the camera as little as possible during the shot. Use the self-timer or a remote control. That way you avoid vibrations at the moment you take the photo.

And do not forget your batteries. On cold nights batteries drain considerably faster. So always start with a full battery and take at least one spare. Preferably keep that spare battery close to your body so that it stays warm.

Can you photograph the northern lights with a smartphone?

Yes. Modern smartphones can often photograph the northern lights surprisingly well, especially when the polar light is bright.

Use the night mode of your smartphone or, if your phone supports it, choose the pro mode. With that you can adjust the ISO and exposure time yourself.

The same applies with a phone: put it on a tripod or place it firmly against something. A shot of several seconds handheld almost always results in motion blur.

On some phones the night mode on a tripod can automatically use a longer exposure. A shot of 10, 20 or even 30 seconds can therefore show much more colour than you perceive with your own eyes.

Turn off the flash. It has no influence at all on the light hundreds of kilometres above your head and only lights up the foreground.

Your camera sometimes sees more than you do

That is perhaps one of the most interesting things about northern lights photography. The naked eye and a camera sensor do not look in the same way.

During weak northern lights it can happen that with your eyes you mainly see a grey or very light green band. If you then take a photo with a long shutter speed, green or even purple suddenly appears clearly on the screen.

That does not mean the photo is fake. The sensor collects light for several seconds, while our eyes perceive continuously. As a result a camera can make colours visible that you can hardly see yourself.

Do you want to quickly test whether the northern lights are actually present? Then take one photo with a relatively long shutter speed. If you see more colour and structure on your LCD screen than with the naked eye, then there is probably indeed aurora activity.

What is the best shutter speed for the northern lights?

There is no perfect shutter speed that works every evening. The right setting depends on the strength and speed of the northern lights.

A weak, slowly moving arc you can, for example, expose for longer. A fast-dancing curtain of bright polar light calls for a shorter shutter speed. If you use twenty or thirty seconds while the northern lights move quickly, the fine structures disappear and you are more likely to get one soft green blob.

So experiment. Start, for example, at around five seconds and look at the result. Is the photo too dark? Try a slightly longer exposure or a higher ISO. Are the structures disappearing? Choose a shorter shutter speed.

It is precisely that trying out that I enjoy about northern lights photography: no two evenings are the same and the perfect settings change constantly.

Think about your composition too

When people photograph the northern lights for the first time, they often only point the camera upwards. Understandable, but your photos usually become more interesting when you also show something of the landscape.

A mountain, tree, hotel, cabin or person in the foreground gives scale to the photo. Reflections in water or snow can also make a shot much stronger.

Also check beforehand where north is and, after sunset, look at which spots around your hotel are the darkest. The northern lights can ultimately appear anywhere in the sky, but when the activity is weaker you often see it first in a northerly direction.

If you want to take photography further, you can also experiment with a timelapse. You let the camera take photos automatically over a longer period. When you string those images together, you see how the polar light moves across the sky.

Northern lights and southern lights: the same phenomenon

The phenomenon we call the northern lights in the north is a form of polar light. Around the northern pole it is called aurora borealis. In the southern hemisphere a similar phenomenon exists: the southern lights, or aurora australis.

For a trip to Scandinavia you will of course be dealing with the northern lights. Especially above and around the Arctic Circle there are many places where you have a chance to see it during dark, clear nights.

That does not mean, incidentally, that every night is automatically successful. Cloud cover, light pollution and solar activity all play a role. Perhaps you are lucky on the first evening, while on another evening you look at a dark sky for hours without seeing anything.

The simple test from your hotel room

Do you want to know whether photographing the northern lights from your hotel room is feasible that evening? Then first take one test photo.

Turn off all lamps in your room, place your camera or smartphone as stable as possible and take a shot with a longer exposure time. If you see more colour and structure in the photo than with your own eyes, there is a good chance polar light is visible.

Do you mainly see the reflection of the hotel, street lighting or an orange glow in the sky? Then there is probably too much ambient light. In that case walk outside for a few minutes and look for a darker spot. Indeed, sometimes a hundred metres' distance from an illuminated facade already makes an enormous difference.

Do you need a professional camera?

No. A professional camera is not necessary to capture the northern lights. A recent smartphone can already give beautiful results with strong northern lights.

If you really want control over the photo and, for example, want to photograph stars, landscapes and finer structures in the polar light well, then a mirrorless or DSLR camera and a fast lens do offer more possibilities.

In the end the best camera is mainly the camera you have with you and know how to use. Good camera settings and a dark location are more important than expensive equipment alone.

So: can it be done from your hotel room?

Yes, photographing the northern lights from your hotel room is really possible, but only under the right conditions.

If your hotel is in a dark location with a clear view of the sky and little light pollution, you can get lucky from your room or balcony. From an illuminated city centre the chance is much smaller.

And although it of course sounds nice to take photos from a warm hotel room, photographing outside usually remains the best choice. You have less trouble with reflections, more freedom for your composition and can look for a dark spot with a beautiful foreground yourself.

From Wood Hotel Bodø you fortunately do not have to go far for that. Thanks to its location on Rønvikfjellet you have direct access to an open landscape with a view over the Vestfjord. Do you see the northern lights appear from your window? Then grab your tripod, camera, full battery and possibly a spare battery, step outside and try to capture it yourself.

Because however beautiful the northern lights are in a photo: seeing them with your own eyes remains the most special thing in the end.