Dazzling View of the Northern Lights Dancing Over a Partially Frozen River

 Shot on a most unusual night in Norway, a dazzling view of the northern lights dancing over a partially frozen river creates the most delightful reflections. These spectacular images were captured by Arild Heitmann, a 33-year-old landscape photographer from Northern Norway.

Heitmann grew up in the woods and mountains most of his life. He has practically spent his entire life out in the wilderness, but it was not until 2008 that he started documenting his many adventures. His interest in photography quickly transformed into something more meaningful when he realized that he was able to share through his pictures the incredible beauty that surrounded him each day. At present, he still spends most of his time out in nature, ever searching for fresh and inspiring images. One of his projects noteworthy of attention is the mystical Aurora Borealis images.

Heitmann was using Canon 5D paired with an EF 17-40mm f/4L lens. With his focus on infinity he set the aperture wide open, and calibrated his ISO to 800.  His exposures were set in bulb mode and he employed some special techniques using his “magic cloth,” as he went for the pictures.

Heitmann recalled that once-in-a–lifetime experience. It was November 14, 2010,

“I was heading deep into the woods for another nightly adventure… I came down to a river running out of a small frozen lake. My headlamp was living its own life, turning on and off every other second. I must have looked like a walking disco….I managed to get out in the middle of the river to these wonderful rocks. I knew immediately what I wanted. The rocks were frosted so brilliantly. I knew that if i could pull this off, i would have a shot that could be hard to top. The aurora was dancing vividly across the sky in the exact right direction.”

“When I got home I started the processing. The RAW file looked great. Noise was almost unnoticeable. Then followed the obligatory and crucial white balance adjustment, a little Levels… and then some dodging and burning. All that was done in a few minutes.”