Thunderstorm last night

[bc_steve]

Taken in Wells, BC

1. I know the tree in the front is a little distracting, this happened on the edge of the shot that I had lined up and I cropped it down to this. I could have found a more open location, but my camera would have been soaked! This was the closest/loudest strike of the night, so it was pretty cool that it was one that I captured and one of the few I've taken where you can actually see it strike the ground.

Lightning Strike by Steve Dinicol, on Flickr

2. This one is more along the lines of what I was going for. The rain was really off and on, storm after storm came through the area last night so when it was dry I went down the road where there was a more interesting foreground.

Wells by Steve Dinicol, on Flickr

 

[Big Mike]

Nicely captured.

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

Very Nice

 

[Stevepwns]

Did you just start hitting the shutter at random times or did you try to plan the exposure to what you were seeing?

 

[bc_steve]

Did you just start hitting the shutter at random times or did you try to plan the exposure to what you were seeing?

I pointed the camera (on a tripod) towards where the lightning was generally happening. I put the camera in continuous mode and using one of those cable shutter release things, I locked it in the pushed down position so it took photo after photo. 99% of them were throw aways because they didn't contain lightning but you do end up with a couple of good ones!

I like a shorter exposure for lightning shots than most people seem to use. A long exposure will show multiple lightning strikes and they don't come out as bright. I prefer that it looks more like what I see with my eyes: a very bright single lightning strike. Those were 3 seconds and 5 seconds each.

 

[Stevepwns]

Did you just start hitting the shutter at random times or did you try to plan the exposure to what you were seeing?

I pointed the camera (on a tripod) towards where the lightning was generally happening. I put the camera in continuous mode and using one of those cable shutter release things, I locked it in the pushed down position so it took photo after photo. 99% of them were throw aways because they didn't contain lightning but you do end up with a couple of good ones!

I like a shorter exposure for lightning shots than most people seem to use. A long exposure will show multiple lightning strikes and they don't come out as bright. I prefer that it looks more like what I see with my eyes: a very bright single lightning strike. Those were 3 seconds and 5 seconds each.

Nice, Im gonna have to try that. I like the lightning pics. Haven't had any storms worth going out into the rain where I am at.

 

[masquerad101]

Top job for the effort alone as Im sure you were getting hit with all kinds of weather. No2 look good to me but the tree sitcking up over the mountain distracts a little...im just nit picking it look good.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

I remember getting a good lightning shot about 15 years ago but with my 35mm film camera. It was at night and I just left the shutter open for about 10 mins. It was shot at like f/22 with 400 ISO or something but the light from the flash of the lightning was plenty to expose the shot.

 

[TamiAz]

Very Cool.. I love the look of the town you live in.

 

[bc_steve]

Very Cool.. I love the look of the town you live in.

Thanks! I am in Wells, right near Barkerville in British Columbia. Believe it or not, Barkerville was once the biggest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. It was in its heyday during the Cariboo Gold Rush in the 1800's and it's now a ghost town. Nearby Wells is the functioning town in the area these days, but it's quite small and remote and hard to imagine that it was the centre of so much activity not that long ago.