Picture perfect: how to photograph northern lights

Saskatchewan has been living up to its licence plate slogan"land of the living skies" as photographers across the province take advantage of the vibrant northern lights.

• 11-year sun cycle energizes northern lights in Saskatchewan

Greg Johnson, photographer and professional storm chaser, shared a series of photos of the aurora borealis that he tookin Saskatchewan.

"People come to places like this, and we call it the land of the living skies because honestly I can drive fiveminutes outside of Regina, fiveminutes from my front door and I can have world class aurora," said Johnson, who is known as the tornado hunter.

Videos Johnson captured of Saskatchewan skies have hit five million views.

"What we've seen over the last 18 months is a very active solar cycle. And that solar cycle has allowed us to have these incredible displays," said Johnson.

Greg Johnson captures aurora borealis

9 years ago

Duration 0:39

Tornado hunter and photographer Greg Johnson captured the northern lights in Saskatchewan.How complicated is shooting northern lights?

"Taking pictures of the aurora is way more difficult than people give it credit for. You go out there and you see these bright lights in the sky. And then our brains and our eyeballs figure that, 'Oh man, its so bright Ishould be able to just point my camera up there," said Johnson.

"But anyone who has ever taken their cell phone camera out and tried taking a picture... it's nothing but disappointment."

4 tipsto take better northern lights photos:

1. Use anSLR, not your cell phone.

"The biggest advice I can give is you need to have a decent camera. Without a decent camera, like a cell phone camera just isn't going to do it. Try all you want, but you're going to have very, very poor results."

2.Wear proper winter clothes, so that you can focus and stay outside longer to get your shots.

"The other night when I was out shooting, I spent fivehours outside in the snow and cold taking pictures. Andthereason that there is a highnumber of goodshots is because I spent a lot of time doing it."

3. Use a tripod to stay steady and have shots that are better focused.

"Shutter speed to capture aurora can be really, really slow. Sometimes 10-15 seconds in that range. And so, if you don't have a good solid tripod to keep the camera still, your results aren't going to be what you're expecting."

4. Become familiar with your cameraand practice.

"If you don't spend time doing it, you're not going to get good results."