Your chance to see the Northern Lights

This evening is meant to be the best chance us Brits have of seeing the Northern Lights over mainland UK but this does depend on the weather. If it's cloudy you won't see much but if some of the gas is moving slow enough and it's a clear evening, scientists say there's a chance we could see the natural phenomenon in Scotland and in some northern parts of England.

If you fancy waiting up until the small hours to get a glimpse of this amazing sight we have a few tips to help you capture the best images of the Northern Lights you can. Photographer Mark Humpage shared his account of his trip to see the Northern Lights early last year and you can read his article on photographing the Northern Lights on ePz.

His basic shooting tips were:

1. Think WAZ. A Wide angle, All rounder and Zoom will cover 99% of most shoots.
2. In cold conditions wrap a towel or fleece around camera whilst shooting. This will preserve battery life surprisingly well. Take double amount of batteries you would normally use.
3. Check noise levels on early shots through zooming on LCD or if possible on a PC. Adjust ISO accordingly. This will ensure an entire shoot is not ruined.
4. Capturing Northern Lights - Tripod, good foreground object, noise reduction ON, manual mode, lowest F number aperture, start with 15s exposure time (increase as required). Be patient. Aurora can appear sporadically over a period of many hours. Take warm breaks but constantly check the skies for activity.
5. Moving a camera from the cold to a warm interior will fog up lenses and introduce moisture inside the camera/lens. To overcome this wrap the camera inside a plastic bag, whilst outside, and then take it indoors. Wait 20 mins for the camera (inside the bag) to regain ambient inside temperature.

Visit Mark Humpage's website for more details.

If you do manage to capture any shots remember to post your results on ePz.