Photographing Lightening

[hopalonghowie]

<p>We are expecting some severe thunderstorms here on Friday and I have been trying to get some lightening shots but so far much to my chagrin what were vigorous storms over Ohio have petered out by the time they get here to Clarksburg, WV giving me maybe 3 or 4 cloud to ground or cloud to cloud bolts that are gone before I can even get aimed in their general direction. I have a well covered spot that I can shoot from that allows me quick egress if it gets to nasty and I need to retreat.</p>

<p>I have been using my 50mm 1.8 lens with my T3i set in sports mode so I can rapid fire shots with the AF off and set to infinity. </p>

<p>Any advice would be appreciated. </p>

[Mattman944]

<p>Old way: Shoot at night, keep the shutter open for 5-10 seconds and hope to get lucky. Shoot enough and you will get something.<br /> New way: <a href="http://www.lightningtrigger.com/">http://www.lightningtrigger.com/</a><br />I haven't used these, but I hear they really work. It won't capture a single flash of lightning, but most lightning is a cascade, not a single flash.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>A tripod, a large card, remote trigger release and patience are needed. Matthew's technique is good. I would try some shorter and some longer exposures, since if the sky brightens up too much from multiple lightning bolts your shots can be overexposed.</p>

<p>I have read about those lightning triggers, but haven't spoken with anyone who's used one yet.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Actually, you can get lucky hand-holding the camera.</p><div></div>

[derek_thornton1]

<p>Dude, I love lightning! What sucks for me is living in the upstate of SC. Nothing happens here. Thunderstorms are spotty and move through so quick. To get the good pics you have to be in an area that you can see a long way, like up on a unforested hill. I only have a couple areas that are public property and being there at the right time is hard to do. As you know, weather forcast are not that good. We have got great storms at 30% chance and no storms at 70%. For me that is an hour drive with a chance of no pictures. After doing that a dozen times you begin to lose interest. You live in W. Virginia, not much better than Greenville for lightning.<br>

You can use any lens for lightning. I prefer wide angle because it covers more ground, thus greater chance. I have much better luck at night shooting in Bulb at like f/11. I take like 30 second to 1 minute shots. Like you, I shoot AF off and set to infinity on a tripod. If I were to shoot during the day it would be as you and hope for the best.<br>

Good luck,<br>

Derek</p>

[klsphoto]

Here's another vote for the lightning trigger if you want to capture daytime lightning. It does capture single bolts by

"seeing" the infrared pre-flash and triggering the shutter in time to catch the visible bolt. Wide lens, to capture more

sky, aperture priority, around f11 to f13, tripod, manual focus on infinity, ISO 100. Derek's method works for night time

lightning. If you live in a dark sky area you can leave the shutter open in bulb until there is a flash. If there is a lot of

ambient light, try 10, 20 or 30 second exposures to find the right one for the conditions then set an interovalmeter on

continous, sit back & relax. Stay safe.

[hopalonghowie]

<p>Thank you all for the tips.</p>

<p>That lightening trigger looks like something I might invest in...Father's Day is coming up. </p>

[leo s.]

<p>Howard,<br>

Try shopping around. I think the lightning trigger is a bit over priced, and there are alternative products out there.<br>

Or, build one yourself: http://www.glacialwanderer.com/hobbyrobotics/?p=16<br>

I did, and it's fairly easy. So far I've not had a very lightning rich storm to try it on, so I haven't caught any with it yet, but my partner caught a daytime bolt on her camera using it, so I know it works.<br>

Also, if you have a remote cable release that you can lock down (cheap Chinese copies of Canon's cable release from ebay work fine in my experience), the camera shutter will keep firing till the buffer/memory card fills up or the shutter release is unlocked. If you are shooting in RAW (which you should be ideally), then your exposures will have to be at least a few seconds, or you'll start to fill up the buffer.<br>

Of course, doing this for extended periods of time will result in more wear and tear on your shutter mechanism, which is usually the first thing to go on a DSLR, so if you plan to do this a lot, then a trigger is probably a better idea.<br>

Use as many cameras as you can, pointed in slightly different directions, to give you a better chance of catching something. I've used as many as 3 cameras all hooked up to the same trigger.<br>

Once your cameras are set up and running, sit in your car and observe the storm from behind the glass, making sure not to touch any exposed metal. That is the safest place to be in a storm.<br>

Good luck,<br>

Leo</p>

[thakurdalipsingh]

<p>is sitting in a car safe ? </p>

[hopalonghowie]

<p>As long as your not touching any metal Thakur.</p>

[dcstep]

<p>I set up last night to shoot 30-sec. shots, but forgot to turn the lens to MF. I was in M-mode, but forgot that the lens would still try to AF. I ruined three or four dramatic strikes with OOF foregrounds.</p>

<p>I knew better, just forgot. A reminder to the wise.</p>

[greg_campbell1]

<p>You are never entirely safe when lightning strikes nearby. Being inside a car is good, but not a 100% guarantee...</p>

<p>Twilight - aperture priority at f/8 or so. Let the camera's AE choose the appropriate shutter speed so as to properly expose the clouds, sky, foreground, etc. Machine-gun away! Alter aperture to match lightning's brightness and distance.</p>

<p>Night - Manual mode, again setting the shutter to expose any interesting aspects of the scene, while adjusting aperture to best expose the lightning. (Not too wimpy, but not wildly blown out either.)</p>

<p>Disable AF if needed, and/or use a distant light to focus on.</p>

<p>Use a cable release toavoid vibration.</p>

<p>A solid tripod is a must.</p>

[hopalonghowie]

<p>Well here is one of the 5 I managed to get out of the storm on June 29.</p><div></div>