New to the Forum and a Lightning Photo

[michael middleton]

First, I'm a newly registered member of the forum, and a willing student of this digital photography obsession. My buddy, Casey, is a member and encouraged me to join. Hopefully I can increase my learning curve through participation here!

Secondly, I'll jump right in and get your opinions on a couple of photos I snapped a week, or so, ago at the local football game as a lightning storm moved in. Seeing the storm approaching, we left the game at halftime, but once outside the stadium, I turned and attempted to get a lighting shot. I probably snapped 40 frames to get these two shots.

Both are handheld with Canon 20D, Tamron 17-55 f/2.8





Michael

 

[michael middleton]

Well, typical Noob. I posted this in the wrong forum. I had intended it to go to the General forum. My apologies...please don't be too rough on me!:er:

 

[Lyncca]

I'm sure one of the mods will move your post for you

Anyway, welcome!

These are awesome photos, I think I would have been hauling a** out of there well before the conditions looked like that!

 

[iflynething]

I like the colors better of the second one. The peope are not in the shadows but I wish the lightning was in that picture and not the first one

~Michael~

 

[Casey]

Amazing hand held shots! Welcome!

 

[michael middleton]

I like the colors better of the second one. The peope are not in the shadows but I wish the lightning was in that picture and not the first one

~Michael~

I agree with you. The one with the lightning bolt was taken before the other one, and I had the shutter set at 1/125th (f/2.8). For the second, I had bumped the shutter down to 1/80th, which allowed for better exposure of the flags and the crowd. Had I been at 1/80th on the first shot, I suppose I would have achieved similar exposure of the foreground, and possibly longer "bolts" of lighting, but I also wonder if it would have been offset by even more blown highlights in the center?

Thanks for the comments.

 

[MissMia]

Welcome to TPF! Very nice lightning shot. A combo of both would be great.

 

[VenturaweddingPhoto]

Hey Michael, you did a great job considering the rain was coming through and you did not use a tripod for this, especially at f2.8. I do agree with MissMia and wonder how they would turn out if you combined both shots. Very cool and brave shots though, 20d and a 2.8 lense are still a bit expensive if you look at the photo quality and consider that if that rain had come down hard right then.........those could have been your last two photography shots...I would probably take this kind of risk if it was a wedding and I was getting paid big bucks for it..........or had an umbrella! (lol)

Hector 30d-Sigma 17-70mm f2.8
www.WallotDigital.com - Weddings - Family Portraits - High School Seniors - Ventura County, CA

 

[phoenix_rising]

Wow! A true testament to Canon! :woot:

 

[bigalbest]

Excellent shots and welcome to the forum.

 

[mmcduffie1]

welcome aboard - nice shots

 

[DadeCountyAnthony]

Welcome to the forum Michael. They sure are interesting shots. I like the second shot because of the colors and cool kaotic sky.

 

[Toxic Toast]

welcome, very cool photos!

 

[ChrisOquist]

These are great! Nice job capturing these - I hate to think how many you took before you captured a strike! The colors and sky in the second shot are wonderful, but I'm really struck by how amazingly sharp they are.

How do you like Tamron's stuff?

 

[Roger]

two excellent photos...I find them very symbolic also, that people remain distracted whilst doom approaches lol.