We just got back from 2 small group tours to Iceland and the Northern Lights. Contrary to what you may believe, the Northern Lights are not always visible. First of all, there needs to be no cloud cover and of course, it needs to be dark outside. The darker the better which is the reason we search for them outside the city of Reykjavik. Secondly, the Northern Lights needs to be there, which as we found out, is not always the case. On our first trip, we did not get Mother Nature to cooperate. However, on our second tour, we had a spectacular night. Here are my tips for photographing the Northern Lights.