It is impossible to capture the aurora borealis above a volcanic eruption at night in a single exposure. The reason is because the aurora requires a long exposure – at least 10 to 15 seconds with a high ISO and large lens aperture –while the glowing magma is much brighter, and it requires a shorter exposure time or else it will become overexposed. I thought it would be amazing to see the northern lights filling the sky behind an eruption, so I created this composite. It consists of three images: I took the pyroclastic flow of lava at the bottom of the image from a helicopter. The fountains of lava shooting up from the ground was shot as I drove from the airport to Reykjavik upon arrival for this current photo tour. Both of these pictures were done in daylight, so I reduced their exposure and added contrast to simulate night photography. I shot the image of the aurora on a previous trip to Iceland.
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