Lightning

[brucelee82]

Well seeing as how I can't sleep and there was a thunderstorm going on I decided to break the gear out. Things were calming down as I stepped out but I did manage to capture this one picture. Cropped down from it's original size. Shot at ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/20th on a Tokina 11-16 wide angle lens and Nikon D300. I set the camera up on tripod and used a remote release to fire the trigger. time I have ever tried to capture lightning and I am fairly pleased with my one exposure.

Fullsize image HERE.

 

[Mark Saint]

i like it

 

[Sachphotography]

Nice. I love shooting lighting. I have a few shots I did a few months back here:
Sachphotography

Check them out. I like your because it has the whole scene in picture. Good Job.
Only thing I would do is to level the horizon.
Cheers....

 

[brucelee82]

Thanks for the compliments guys. As for the horizon, you'd probably be surprised to find out it really is level. I took this off the back porch of the house I am renting and it overlooks the fairway of a golf course, the tree line is very curvy and gives the appearance of being un-level.

 

[Flower Child]

Nice photo! Looks like a prime spot to shoot lightning, being wide open like it is. The purpleish cast thats lights up the clouds is great and the placement of the strike in the frame works really well.

 

[Jessmica]

The purple is beautiful.. and I like the way the "horizon" isn't straight.. it looks more natural in my opinion

 

[TheGenericusername]

i like the distance of the bolt. it gives such depth. good job

 

[Big]

How were you able to capture such a quick lightning shot with a shutter speed of only 1/20th? I guess what I'm saying is that I'm curious as to how you could react quick enough to press the shutter button in time. Wouldn't using a slower shutter speed (say like 15 seconds with a higher ISO and smaller aperture) be easier especially if the lightning isn't flashing frequently? Just wondering because I would love to take get a shot of a lightning bolt.

 

[brucelee82]

How were you able to capture such a quick lightning shot with a shutter speed of only 1/20th? I guess what I'm saying is that I'm curious as to how you could react quick enough to press the shutter button in time. Wouldn't using a slower shutter speed (say like 15 seconds with a low ISO and smaller aperture) be easier especially if the lightning isn't flashing frequently? Just wondering because I would love to take get a shot of a lightning bolt.

Three words: Pure friggin' luck.

That's the only way I can explain it. I think I reacted to a separate bolt of lightning or reacted to the clouds above beginning to glow and this subsequent bolt is actually the one that was captured. I tried with the same technique mentioned above last night with absolutely no luck. Next storm that rolls through I am going to try 10 second exposures and see how much luck is then.

Thanks to everyone else for the compliments.

 

[xmaxonx]

That is quite a lucky shot you got. It's a gnarly picture though :er:

 

[brucelee82]

Thanks. And just to be sure I wasn't telling a lie or anything I went back and checked the EXIF data from the picture and realized i had told you guys a bit of a story, it was actually 1/10th shutter speed.

EXIF data can be seen on the fotki page.

Photo: lightning | Randoms album | Brucelee82 | Fotki.com

 

[dseidman]

Nicely captured!

 

[brucelee82]

Had another storm last week. Instead of making another thread I thought I'd simply continue this one. Thanks for the compliments on the previous photo. This exposure was a hair over one minute, 61.1 seconds to be exact.

 

[camz]

These are nice. I really wish I could see the larger version!

 

[pmgadgets]

You don't need too much luck for taking this kind of photos.

You can visit the following site if you are interested in taking lightning photos..

Lightning Trigger

The followings are sample photos taken by using the gadget..