The story was somewhat different when I looked just before going to bed at 00:30.
That's the view from our front door. The image on the right is a composite of the other two.
I'm always critical of photos of the northern lights, because modern phone cameras show a lot more colour than is actually there. Pictures of what look to be grey wisps of cloud turn into stunning light displays, especially when photoshopped to "enhance" them. If I wanted to see what the northern lights looked like through a camera lens, I wouldn't have to stand outside in the cold pointing a camera at them — there are plenty of examples online.
These photos are indeed different to what we saw, being somewhat harsher with less differentiation between colours. We definitely did see the colours, though, very strongly — almost as strong as a sunset. They were more subtle than in the pictures, but the shades of red and green are fairly accurate.
I now consider myself to have seen the northern lights.
I was hoping this would mean my wife wouldn't want to spend thousands on a "see the northern lights" holiday, but she's modified her goal to "see the northern lights properly".