Edit
To provide some context given the messages below. I was a professional photographer, and understand that getting a good photo is a skill. Exposure time, timing, location, and many other factors come into play when capturing a great image.
Seeing the aurora was a fantastic experience. The purpose of this post is to help reduce FOMO of those who could not see it. Many people who don't know these things will imagine dancing lights in the sky of brilliance, and will be saddened by what they missed. While they did miss something, it's important for them to know exactly what they missed.
Edit2 I should also note this is why I enjoy when photographers post gear, conditions, and settings alongside results. It tells viewers what was real.
I am all with you on editing images and creating a "fake" reality on social platforms.
But this poses the question: how much has digital tech become part of our perception and is digitally enhancing a picture really much of a difference if it just helps us see more of the actual reality? I don't think increasing exposure and contrast is changing reality, it just squeezes down what we cannot see so easily and makes it visible in that narrow slit that our human perception can actually process. We use digital editing nowadays that it has become part of our whole process of perceiving reality, so much so that the digital picture litterally replaces what we saw with our eyes - simply because digital photography has become an extension, much like glasses, shoes, cars are litterally a part of our body.
Imho as long as it doesn't create pixels from scratch that weren't there in the first place, it is still viable to polish a picture of the sky to make it more appealing. I mean no buttcheeks were enhanced here, no eyes replaced or lips turned i to a grotesque sausage mouth freakshow 😅
A lot of these photos are made by actually using a long exposure rather than tweaking the “exposure” slider in post
but that's great. using long exposure is a skill that is highly regarded in the photographers community. early photo plates needed exposure for at least 7 minutes, requiring the subject to stand completely motionless. quite a challenge.
It doesn't take any skill to buy a tripod