Dude, it's cool to see you post into the community! I always get excited when i see a post about the Auroras and then i noticed who posted it. hahaha
For settings help... you may want to ask the LightPainters. Most of them here have captured them before. In fact, @darrenflinders was just recognized for one of his epic shots... so maybe he has some tricks of the trade for you?!
while everyone seems to take photos of everything with their phone these days so they can remember it, it is often just better to put the phone away, and enjoy the experience itself. Especially with night photography
This is something i have been saying for a while now. I am tired of everyone living their lives' vicariously through their phones when they are actually THERE in the Flesh and IN THE MOMENT. We have brains and memories for a reason... well at least most of us. I can't tell you how many times i have seen people miss out on the splendor of life by wasting the moment trying to digitally capture it as opposed to just appreciating the moment and living it out.
I thought your shots turned out good. I would be happy enough to just see one in person. =) Cheers browski
Greddy gave some tips also, which is cool, and he is only a few hundreds kilometres away in Estonia, and saw the same lights! :D
I think the taking of photos of everything culture also kills the value of photos themselves. They are taken and then never seen again - people used to make treasured albums - now they are all disposable.
Greddy takes some amazing shots! I had read some of y'alls conversation before i made my remarks. Cool that he was so close... i thought of that when he mentioned Helsinki.
I think you are more than correct with your sentiment. It's funny how the 'albums' are such a vault of experience, yet when combing through these treasure troves... most folks don't recall what the event that was worth capturing in the photos was to begin with. It sucks the soul out of the precious moments from both sides leaving things with less meaning and disposable as you put it. I'm obviously not against taking photos... but there are times when less is more!