My phone binged with an alert from Aurora, an app I had downloaded when I started chasing the Northern Lights in 2023. The message read, “Do to high aurora activity, it might possible to see the aurora in your location right now.” However, since it was 2 pm in the afternoon and the skies were cloudy I knew it wasn’t going to happen, but the alert made me ask the questions; If I could see the aurora tonight in Lake Tahoe, CA where would I want to see it? Could I photograph it?
I got thinking…
Best Places to See The Northern Lights In Lake Tahoe
The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, will be in the northern part of the sky. While that sounds intuitive, it did take me longer than it should have to notice. So, as I jumped off the rock at Bonsai Beach along the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe I brain-stormed the ideal locations in Lake Tahoe that would face north, but also be a good spot for photography. This is what I came up with:
Donner Summit (not Lake Tahoe, but still a good spot)
D.L. Bliss
Pope Beach
Camp Richard
Fallen Leaf Lake Overlook
As I scrolled through the Aurora app to see when the KP index would peak for ideal viewing and photography, I started to narrow down my decision on where to go. Honestly, it was easy for me; Emerald Bay. This area is the most visited area, which can be a challenge, but it is also a stunning location because of Fannette Island and the shape of the bay. Now, I just needed to pack my gear, wait a few hours, and head to the bay.
Gear I packed to Photograph the Northern Lights In Lake Tahoe
Camera gear can become cumbersome, so I wanted to keep things simple, especially if Emerald Bay was going to be busy. My guess, it was going to be! With that said, I knew the low light was going to be an issue, so selecting my camera body I made a decision I typically would not when shooting landscape photography. The gear I went with was:
Sony A7s3: with the dual ISO I knew I could crank it to 12,800 and maintain image quality
Tamron 17-28 f/2.8: this lens has been my go to for all landscape photography
Peak Design Tripod: I really like this tripod because of the ball swivel head, making it easy to level the camera without having to move the legs around all that much
A headlamp: the northern lights happen in the dark, so this was a must
With the gear loaded up in my van, I needed to wait a little while so I could head out, but soon enough I would be snapping images of the Northern Lights over Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe, CA.
Getting the Shot: Northern Lights Over Emerald Bay
From my past experiences photographing the Northern Lights in Canada and Norway, I’ve found the best time to see the aurora are between 10pm and 2am. While this general rule of thumb doesn’t always work, so keep an eye on the KP index radar, I use it as a guideline. So, I ate a little bit of dinner and asked my girlfriend if she wanted to join. “Of course!” she proclaimed.
“Ready in 20 minutes?” I asked
“Yup!”
We ate some food and hoped into the van around 9:15pm, leaving our home in South Lake Tahoe driving along Emerald Bay Highway. Keeping an eye out the window for signs of activity, the towering evergreens blocked our view, so we kept driving. The song, Astrovan, blasted throughout the speakers as we wound up the west shore of Lake Tahoe. Cars driving in all direction, not normal for this area, was certainly because of the potential aurora. As we drove out the trees, gaining a clear view of the sky, we pulled over, just to take a look.
Pulling out our phones, we snapped some hand held long exposures just to see if the camera could pick anything up. While we couldn’t see anything with the naked eye, we could see a slight pink in the images our phones captured.
“Oh, this could be good, we should head to Emerald Bay.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Kristin confirmed.
Loading back into the van we made our way to the bay and attempted to find parking. The place was crowded. Cars parked along the road, people walking along the road without a shoulder, it was a bit scary driving the van. The good news, my favorite pull out had plenty of room to squeeze the van along the shoulder and out of the fog line. I pulled in my mirrors and grabbed the camera gear.
Walking a hundred yards, I set up my camera next to a few older photographers sharing stories and drinking beer. Their stories kept me entertained as I got my camera together in the dark.
10 pm came and went, but as 10:30 rolled around, a red column of Northern Lights began reaching towards the sky.
Dialing in my focus, changing my settings around a little bit, I snapped. Not good enough. A few more tweaks to the settings and I snapped again. That one looks good, I said to myself.
Northern Lights over Emerald Bay. Photo by Dalton Johnson
As quickly as the red column came, it faded away. Kristin and I sat around for another 30 minutes hoping something would happen, but the KP index was fading and the radar was showing the Northern Lights were moving away from Lake Tahoe. So, we packed up and headed home, back to a warm cup of tea, a quick edit, and sleep.
