Green Bow

The more often I photograph the Northern Lights, the more complex projects I come up with. Let me introduce you to one of the most ambitious panoramas I've created during our autumn photo expedition. We hiked for an hour and a half to reach my favorite peak above Sorvagen, where I decided to make the Northern Lights shoot truly special. I opted for a 180° panoramic view. Capturing such a wide-angle photo of the night landscape, combined with the constantly shifting Northern Lights, was an exhilarating challenge.

I couldn’t help but laugh at myself—what a wild idea I’d come up with; even a magician would struggle with it!

To achieve this shot, I had to use averaged exposures, exposure bracketing, and a higher number of focus planes, all while accounting for the rapid changes in the Northern Lights. This led me to develop what I call "variable focus bracketing," a special technique I devised. The final image is composed of three focus planes, though in reality, there were ten.

The photo has been awarded Bronz Medal at Prix de la Photographie, Paris (P×3) 2018, Honorable Mention at The International Photography Awards 2018, Gold Medal at Tokyo International Foto Awards 2018 and Honorable Mention at Fine Art Photography Awards 2018 in London.

Panorama compiled from total of 70 frames (3-level exposure bracketing of 21 exposures in two rows, averaged exposures, 3-level focus bracketing).

Equipment: Nikon D750

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