Chris Perry Photography and BoundaryWaters.Net

Night ShotsNight and Astro Photographs:

These photographs are the ones that Chris actually loves to do the most because he so much enjoys the crisp, clear Minnesota nights and the absolute magnificence of the northern lights and stars. People frequently comment of the superb coloring of our northern lights photographs and occasionally question the authenticity because they themselves have never seen lights quite like that. Our photographs are absolutely authentic, never enhanced and Chris is able to capture the splendid colors because of a few photographic tools that include long-exposure and the website: www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/indes.html. The extra time that the iris of the camera is open allows the color to really seep in and show as brilliantly in his photographs as they do and the website allows Chris to know when solar flares are peaking so he knows that there is a good chance for northern lights. (Solar flares actually send particles toward the earth, which are attracted by the magnetic poles of our planet, thus the northern and southern lights. Our atmosphere deflects the particles but during deflection the particles collide with atmospheric gases and create a photon, which is a light particle. When there are major flares there will be a lot of particles and therefore more northern lights.) Another important aspect of these photographs is that Chris seeks out places that are far away from any unnatural light sources and waits (sometimes for hours) until the northern lights are just right. It is important to note that Chris takes night photographs almost every night but there are few nights that he actually captures the lights in such an awe-striking manner. People also commonly mistake the astral photographs for photographs that have rain streaking across them. What you are actually seeing are the trails of stars that are captured as the earth moves. Astro photography requires clear nights with very low to no moonlight to be captured appropriately and Chris has every new moon circled on his calendar! Every night and every northern light is different, so every one of these photographs is truly one of a kind!