If youre trying to catch the nuanced colors of the northern lights, Learning how to edit aurora images is a necessary ability. Youll initially need to make certain youve got the very best pictures possible with your cam– and we have a guide on how to photograph the aurora, if you need advice on this– however editing images is quite a crucial part of the procedure, too. Youll want to set your electronic camera to RAW to capture as much information in your image as possible when youre shooting. Then youll need to submit these images to some type of modifying software. Weve written thoroughly about the best picture modifying apps for astrophotography– however if youre in a rush, our top suggestions are Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CC, which come with all the tools youll need to fine-tune your night sky images. There are some lower expense alternatives too, like Affinity Photo, which are terrific if youre on a budget plan. Adobe Lightroom CC subscription choices:1 month strategy – $9.99 monthly ($9.99 overall expense)How to edit aurora photos: PreferencesHow you edit your aurora photos is a personal choice, and you may not want to edit them at all. In doing so you can boost an image if you havent recorded a scene as you had actually hoped in video camera. You might also want to ensure aspects pop. Whether its since the direct exposure was too dark or too long, or if you wish to make it less loud or simply adjust the white balance, you can learn how listed below. In this guide, well reveal you how we edited an aurora picture recorded at Jokulsarlon, Iceland under an almost complete moon. We used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom traditional and recorded the photo on a Canon 80D with a Tamrom 10 -24 mm Lens at 1omm, f3.5, ISO 2000, for 8 seconds. (If youve not yet set out on your northern lights adventure, make sure you see our recent post on the very best devices for aurora photography.)When shooting, we likewise used the white balance tungsten mode. We find that tungsten cools off the scene providing it a blue tint, which worked in this circumstance as the moonlight gave an orange tint to the clouds and we wished to shoot with cool tones to opt for the glacial lagoon scene. We will warm up the image in post processing. Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)BeforeImage 2 of 2(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)AfterIt actually does not matter what white balance you use as the color of the night sky will be affected by things like how dark it is and the existence and strength of the aurora. So, pick whatever balance you like and attempt it. We typically shoot in tungsten as we discover it useful for shooting near light pollution, reducing that orange light glow.We like to keep our northern lights images natural looking, to demonstrate how it aims to the naked eye and not over saturate the colors. But there is no right or wrong method to modify your photos, it is a personal choice, so modify to your own tastes. We encourage you to check out the settings in cam and in editing software application like Lightroom, Photoshop and GIMP. How to modify aurora pictures: The basicsThe first thing youll wish to do when modifying is to check your image straight. A little change can generally do this; on Lightroom, you simply require to utilize the spirit level on the left hand side of the screen. Our next action with this particular image was to warm the temperature level up a bit to lower the coolness of the tungsten white balance. For the above, we went all the way up to 5800 on the temperature level slider, but we didnt touch the green/pink tint. We then like to lighten up the picture, too. It is worth bearing in mind that when you look at your images on screen, they are backlit, however this will not be the case if you want to print your images. In this image, we increased the exposure to +0.70. You can compare your image to a white or black background by pushing L on your keyboard to see how you might desire to adjust dark/highlighted areas of the image.If you have actually overexposed your shot, drop the exposure and you should be able to bring your image back. (If you shoot in RAW, having that increased image data can save you here). We adjusted the contrast to +35 on this image to make the clouds and icebergs pop.We did not bring up the blacks in these images as this process normally introduces sound, however dark locations can be changed with the magic brush if you require– however we d recommend bringing the clearness down if youre doing that, to lower noise. (Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)We increased the clarity to +20 on this photo, particularly to bring out the stars and shape of the aurora a little. We likewise increased dehaze to +10– but its crucial not to overdo the dehaze function, as it can generate a vignette and modify the colors to look abnormal. Its helpful in smaller increments as it includes a depth and shape to areas of information like the icebergs, mountains, and stars.As a guideline, we do not recommend touching the total saturation bar; rather, scroll down to the HSL (Hue, luminance and saturation) section and adjust whichever colors you feel are not precise reflections of how you saw them on the night.In this image, we raised the shade to the particular green our eyes saw on the night, increased the yellow, dropped the aqua tones and adjusted the saturation to a level that felt more natural. This can likewise be finished with the brush tool if you just desire to target specific parts of the photo. For example, you can separate the aurora and boost or dull the colors as you please. Remember, personal preference is crucial! It is your photo after allHow to edit aurora photos: Noise reductionIf youre having problem with noise when youre catching pics, do have an appearance at our piece on how to reduce noise in astrophotography. Recording the image with a lower ISO will also assist with this issue, as higher ISO produces more sound. When were working on this element of our modifying, well typically change the sharpening of the image. For the picture, we changed the amount slider to 30, left the radius at 1.0 and put the information slider at 25.(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)If you hold down alt (on a windows computer system) and slide the masking bar you get a sneak peek of how it is sharpening your image. Your image will turn white and black, and youll see how the function begins tidying up the white areas as you increase the slider. We aim to be around 80 on the masking slider, but this will depend upon how loud the image is.With noise decrease, we utilize luminance as the primary softening tool to decrease sound. Constantly be cautious not to exaggerate it or you will lose details in your picture.Explore your modifying program and try all the tools on deal to see what they do. If you want more assistance, have a look through our piece on how to modify pictures in Lightroom. Have a good time taking pictures and editing them. In the meantime, we wish you clear and aurora filled skies!
Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)BeforeImage 2 of 2(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)AfterIt actually does not matter what white balance you utilize as the color of the night sky will be affected by things like how dark it is and the existence and strength of the aurora. How to edit aurora pictures: The basicsThe very first thing youll desire to do when modifying is to examine your image directly. It is worth keeping in mind that when you look at your photos on screen, they are backlit, however this will not be the case if you wish to print your images. You can compare your image to a black or white background by pushing L on your keyboard to see how you may want to adjust dark/highlighted areas of the image.If you have overexposed your shot, drop the exposure and you must be able to bring your image back.(Image credit: Hannahbella Nel)If you hold down alt (on a windows computer) and slide the masking bar you get a preview of how it is honing your image.