Lightning storm at the beach

eoren1

We had an incredible thunderstorm roll through last night. It really picked up after sunset and I headed down to the beach which seemed to give the best view. This was by far the most incredible lightning storm I have ever seen (and I've lived through three DC summers where great lightning frequently passes). There were flashes across the sky and, later, bolts hitting near the water. The exposure was almost impossible - this was the trickiest shot I have ever taken. Depending on the burst, I would get a 2-stop under or overexposed shot. Ended up with iso 100 f/4 and 6-10 second exposures. This was the best of them.



Appreciate your thoughts.

DaddyO

Pretty neat result I do love the lighting storms.

It is just like you say. Tricky business and often frustrating. But its always
thrilling and worth the effort. Especially when everything comes together.
Be safe out there. Best ya can Another difficult aspect of getting the shot.

DaddyO

It comes to mind that often times I will have greater success at much higher
apertures and longer exposure times given the light I am shooting in. A cable
release or placing my hand or hat over the lens comes in handy to shut the
exposure down when desired. Say just after a really bright strike or 2.
In processing I will detail where possible using dodging and burning. But blown
out remains blown out. High apertures can save many of these shots in the first place.
Just my 2 cents Got lots of change laying around.

eoren1

Thanks Michael
I have had much better luck shooting other storms where the light was constant and the strikes were single. As in this one from my roof in DC:



This storm threw all those rules right out the window. I was consistently getting blown shots when going out to 15-30 seconds due to too many strikes/flashes. This seemed to be the happy medium.

DaddyO

Thats a fine picture nicely captured. Well done.
Agreed. Lightnings brighter strikes don't like to make it easy. Making for set
rules difficult to apply.