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Artistic Questions

Pictures of Lightening Storms

Discuss style and artistic aspects of photography
unconventional_fotos
 
Posts: 3

Pictures of Lightening Storms

Post Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:57 am


There was a BEAUTIFUL summer storm the other night---electrical AND sheet lightening all at once. I loaded up my camera and hopped into the car and drove the 5 minutes down to Lake Erie to capture it. I thought I had taken some great shots, thought I had everything set up just right and couldn't wait to get home to upload my picstures.
I had NOTHING but 43 black screens staring back at me! :(
So my question is...what is the trick to take pictures of lightening storms?
Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Susan

dang
 
Posts: 3780

Re: Pictures of Lightening Storms

Post Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:42 am


Hi Susan,
It's been a long time since I've messed with it, but there's a couple of ways to do it...
Set up a tripod, use a long exposure by stopping down, or your bulb setting and wait until after the lightning flash to close your shutter.

The second (easy way) is to use a program with adds it to any shot you've taken, such as the example below done with Photo Impact: :wink:
Image

unconventional_fotos
 
Posts: 3

Re: Pictures of Lightening Storms

Post Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:32 pm


I am itching for the next storm now so I can go out and try it!! I upgrade to an ubermodel tripod...(you know it's just like tools MORE POWER!!!) and I am dying to get using it to capture some lightening.
Thanks for your help!!

moffetb
 
Posts: 154

Re: Pictures of Lightening Storms

Post Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:14 am


Image

There are a couple of different methods. The photo above (taken on film at the Santa Cruz Lighthouse), is the open the shutter and wait. I believe this was a 30 second exposure (all I had was ISO 400 film, so I put a polarizer on the lens and stopped it down as far as possible.)

There are also devices that will trigger the camera after the first flash (or pre-flash.) http://www.lightningtrigger.com/ as an example. I have not played with those.

As a warning. Lightning will kill you. If you are outside with a camera on a tripod, you're probably near a mass of metal and that will potentially be a starting point for the lightning. Pay close attention to where the lightning is. Even if you are a couple of miles from the storm, lightning will strike outside of the storm occasionally.

I used to do this type of shooting whenever I could, and someplace I have a photo of a lightning strike that took place between me and a tree. The tree was 30 feet from me.

Brian

jypsee
 
Posts: 1247

Re: Pictures of Lightening Storms

Post Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:54 pm


You don't say what camera you're using and I'm too lazy to go look at your galleries, but if you're going to use a digital camera you need to compensate for noise in the file/frame so use a low ISO and a cable release to hold the shutter open. Even with low ISO you can still get noise in the file/frame. In addition to a tripod you'll want a wide angle lens and a ballhead so you can tilt your camera upward unless you're at a distance to the strikes. If you can include something interesting in the frame, it makes for a better picture. Here's some examples I made last summer; exif info is intact.

http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/85788299

http://www.pbase.com/jypsee/image/85788059

http://www.pbase.com/image/85785246

Mary in SW Florida, USA


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