I had all these great pics from a visit to Kiev, but just before the May free study we had a huge thunderstorm with 15.000 flashes in one night. And I had two empty batteries. But by leaning my old half malfunctioning camera on the windowpost and let it do 30s shots I managed to capture a few flashes....
This one I did not use in the challenge but it is the most interesting. I just did not know where to go with the editing so I did not use it. Do you see the dragon? Once in a liftetime. Dragons exist!
Some more:
This was a little bit closer, it was very, very intense. Looked like a normal flash but it completely blew out the highlights.
Becky was passing the office door so I asked her what she saw. From across the room she said, "Lightning. And a kinda Chinese-type dragon." All without a diagram ;)
Cool shots. I love electrical storms and we don't get 'em here. At least not good ones :(
How do you time it properly to get lightning shots? I have tried during one of our rare storms & just cannot get it right! Although I havent tried since I have has my slr, I was using a point n shoot Sony last time I tried
How do you time it properly to get lightning shots? I have tried during one of our rare storms & just cannot get it right! Although I havent tried since I have has my slr, I was using a point n shoot Sony last time I tried
Good position and luck. You'll either utilize bulb or a set exposure speed that is longer, using manual. Open shutter, wait, when lightning strikes, close shutter. You may want to just use the manual mode and a set shutter though if you want a certain amount of ambient lighting, not just silhouettes and variety in how much the scene is lit. The actual exposure and aperture will vary based on proximity and intensity of lightning though, otherwise your strikes will be totally muddled explosions of light (if your aperture is too low when the lightning is too close). The basic premise follows how you use flash for lighting. Shutter controls ambient, aperture controls intensity of lighting (flash, or in this case, lightning).
ETA: it probably goes without saying, but TRIPOD with remote release!
Good position and luck. You'll either utilize bulb or a set exposure speed that is longer, using manual. Open shutter, wait, when lightning strikes, close shutter. You may want to just use the manual mode and a set shutter though if you want a certain amount of ambient lighting, not just silhouettes and variety in how much the scene is lit. The actual exposure and aperture will vary based on proximity and intensity of lightning though, otherwise your strikes will be totally muddled explosions of light (if your aperture is too low when the lightning is too close). The basic premise follows how you use flash for lighting. Shutter controls ambient, aperture controls intensity of lighting (flash, or in this case, lightning).
ETA: it probably goes without saying, but TRIPOD with remote release!
Thanks for that. Makes perfect sense now someone has explained it, my brain just didnt get there by itself. Hopefully we will have some storms this year : )
I've had some sweet storms near me, but always when I'm sleeping or on the way to work (I work nights). Multiple tornado warnings and funnel clouds, but never at the right time :(
How do you time it properly to get lightning shots?
I just pointed it towards the lighting, set the camera to manual focus (focussed far away, manual exposure (30s max, bulb did not work for some reason, probably the battery running low, stopped it down a bit) and pushed the button every 30s (no delay, the first second it is not recording much anyway).
