Lightning!!!

bluesaphyer · May 20, 2005

Hey All,

A small storm rolled through last night. The view from my back porch is pretty limited, but I got some okay pics. This is my first real attempt at lightning photos.

Any and all comments are appreciated, especially if you have some tips for me for next time!

Enjoy!
Julie

photo gal · May 20, 2005

Very cool Julie!!! Great captures! I can't decide if I like 2 or 3 better, that bolt is just so powerful in 2 and you have captured the intensity of the storm in 3! Nicely done!!!: )

Big Mike · May 20, 2005

I think these are great photos. You captured the lightning as well as the silhouettes of some trees to give the image some perspective. Well done.

Chiller · May 20, 2005

Awesome work. All three are amazing.

JonMikal · May 20, 2005

i like them all! i've always wanted to do this; problem is i'd have to point the camera straight up which narrows my chances. thanks for posting! we must be getting the storm now you had last night.

bluesaphyer · May 20, 2005

Thanks Everybody! :mrgreen: I'm usually afraid of storms, but now I can't wait til the next one!

Julie

ShutteredEye · May 20, 2005

I so want to try this. Nice job.

aprilraven · May 20, 2005

really great, blue... love the fact you caught the branching....thats hard to do...

good good job!

bluesaphyer · May 20, 2005

Thanks again everyone... for taking the time to look and to post!

Julie

Raymond J Barlow · May 21, 2005

totally amazing.. now you can give us some tips??? how the heck... 20-30 sec exposures?? well done!

bluesaphyer · May 21, 2005

Raymond J Barlow said:
totally amazing.. now you can give us some tips??? how the heck... 20-30 sec exposures?? well done!

Thanks! Basically I set my camera on a tripod (D Rebel XT), and pointed the camera to where the lightning was. Framed with the trees and such. I set the camera to 100 ISO, 5.6 aperture, and enabled mirror lockup. Oh and I shot in Raw so I could adjust the exposure after, but they didn't really need much adjustment. Then using a cable release I would open the shutter for 8-10 seconds at a time, except if I got a lightning bolt, I would close the shutter immediatly after. I couldn't really go any longer than that because there's a lot of street lights around me. But really the only reason for leaving the shutter open longer is to increase the chances that it will be open during the strike.

I did some post processing to these photos last night. I gave them a blue tone in PS, and reduced the noise using NEAT image. I like them much better now. Heres one of them:

- Julie