2013. Not a good year for me posting on my blog. But a very good year for the Aurora Australis. I’m told we are right at the high activity point of a 13?? year cycle, and that 2013 is going to be a strong one for aurorae.
Well, they are correct.
Finding a good spot seems to be key. Too much light pollution and its hard to make them out. Too boring a scene, well, it’ll simply be a boring photo with colourful sky lights.
So far we’ve come up with a few good spots. Near the Battery in Bellerieve, Taroona Beach, and the old Battery in Tinderbox.
Lots of experimentation to be done. Shutter speeds, aperture, focus etc. All result in a card full of dodgy images and the occasional gem.
Seems to be simply a trial and error thing. Harder is trying to predict where and when they might show. A few times we’ve turned up to find people telling us we should have been there 10 mins ago. Grrrrr. Still, sit back and wait it out. It might happen again.