Some lightning shots

spanky117ab

I used to shoot lightning a lot more several years ago but it was during one photo session that my hair stood up even on my arms and I knew I was flirting with danger and got my butt inside straight away. I haven't shot it much lately due to different reasons. It's fun to capture but one must be aware of the danger all the time and if possible have a safe place to be able to run to in a hurry if required.
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8 I made the water in photoshop.

9 I made the water in photoshop.

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Thanks for looking.
Regards....Mike

black mamba

I tell you, Mike, that's some of the most beautiful and stunning work I've ever seen at shooting lightning. Professional level performance at it's best. Kudos to you, buddy.

black mamba

The more I look at this series, Mike, the more impressed I am. Do you use some kind of light sensing device to fire your exposures or is it a timing skill that you developed over time? I've shown this posting to several folks and they were all blown away....and they are all accomplished photographers.

moose135

Very well done, Mike! I've shot lightning a couple of times, and it's always thrilling to get it right - and not get struck!

Juano

Fabulous series. I’d like to know more on the technical details.

spanky117ab

@black mamba said:
I tell you, Mike, that's some of the most beautiful and stunning work I've ever seen at shooting lightning. Professional level performance at it's best. Kudos to you, buddy.

Thats quite a complement, thank you very much, have a great day, your comment sure made my day : )

spanky117ab

@black mamba said:
The more I look at this series, Mike, the more impressed I am. Do you use some kind of light sensing device to fire your exposures or is it a timing skill that you developed over time? I've shown this posting to several folks and they were all blown away....and they are all accomplished photographers.

Photographing lightning is not that difficult, I think it's more about nerves than skill really. You need a couple of basic items, A tripod and a remote trigger to fire the shutter, I use a wireless one but a wired one will do just fine. I put my camera in full manual mode and also in bulb mode so the shutter remains open until I close it. Depending on the brightness of the night sky I set my camera to minimum ISO . Before it gets to dark I focus on something very far away. I live on top of a hill so looking to the west or north I can see for miles and miles. After focusing on a distant object I lock in the focus and am careful not to move it. Now comes the hard part, waiting for the lightning to appear and wishing for no rain, clear conditions in the atmosphere are best. Safety is the most important thing you need to follow and having a safe shelter very close is extremely important, not just for having a place to run to incase the lightning get close and it can happen fast but also to get your gear in out of the rain which can also happen fast. Frequent lightning occurrences are best and will increase your number of keepers dramatically. When the lightning starts I open the shutter and wait usually about tens seconds, if no lightning happened in the exposure then I close the shutter and open it again counting down for another ten seconds, if I get a strike any time during the open exposure like say 3 seconds in then I close the shutter knowing that I have most likely captured the event. I dont peek at the photo captured because I may miss another one or two events, I do the reviewing when the frequency of lightning slows down. I repeat this procedure for as long as it takes knowing that there will be many blank captures as in out of say 100 exposures taken I may be lucky to capture 5 to 10 keepers, Mother nature is in full control of the photoshoot and one will do well to respect what she throws our way. As to aperture setting that depends on the night as some lightning events may be during a bright moon while others may not be as bright so aperture setting are one or two stops from wide open depending on the lens used. Speaking of lenses I would recommend using as wide a lens as possible depending on just how far the lightning is to you without it appearing to small in the viewfinder, like I said mother nature is in charge and there are way to many variables to give aperture settings and lens recommendations. Once again the most important part of shooting lightning is to stay safe and have an " escape to " location close by . There you have it in a nutshell, not too difficult to do and experience will only help with the variables you will encounter along the way, dont set your expectations to high to start as the keeper rate will get more frequent with time. When a lightning storm happens most people head indoors so you need to be comfortable to be outside standing next to a small lightning rod (tripod) with lightning happening al, around you. If while out shooting an event your skin or hair starts to tingle then pack it up and seek shelter immediately, no photoshoot is worth risking your life over, this is not meant to scare but to remind you of the possibility of severe injury or even death could happen in the right conditions. I hope this answers your questions and im sorry if this reply seems long winded.
All the best.....Mike

spanky117ab

@moose135 said:
Very well done, Mike! I've shot lightning a couple of times, and it's always thrilling to get it right - and not get struck!

Well said

spanky117ab

@Juano said:
Fabulous series. I’d like to know more on the technical details.

Photographing lightning is not that difficult, I think it's more about nerves than skill really. You need a couple of basic items, A tripod and a remote trigger to fire the shutter, I use a wireless one but a wired one will do just fine. I put my camera in full manual mode and also in bulb mode so the shutter remains open until I close it. Depending on the brightness of the night sky I set my camera to minimum ISO . Before it gets to dark I focus on something very far away. I live on top of a hill so looking to the west or north I can see for miles and miles. After focusing on a distant object I lock in the focus and am careful not to move it. Now comes the hard part, waiting for the lightning to appear and wishing for no rain, clear conditions in the atmosphere are best. Safety is the most important thing you need to follow and having a safe shelter very close is extremely important, not just for having a place to run to incase the lightning get close and it can happen fast but also to get your gear in out of the rain which can also happen fast. Frequent lightning occurrences are best and will increase your number of keepers dramatically. When the lightning starts I open the shutter and wait usually about tens seconds, if no lightning happened in the exposure then I close the shutter and open it again counting down for another ten seconds, if I get a strike any time during the open exposure like say 3 seconds in then I close the shutter knowing that I have most likely captured the event. I dont peek at the photo captured because I may miss another one or two events, I do the reviewing when the frequency of lightning slows down. I repeat this procedure for as long as it takes knowing that there will be many blank captures as in out of say 100 exposures taken I may be lucky to capture 5 to 10 keepers, Mother nature is in full control of the photoshoot and one will do well to respect what she throws our way. As to aperture setting that depends on the night as some lightning events may be during a bright moon while others may not be as bright so aperture setting are one or two stops from wide open depending on the lens used. Speaking of lenses I would recommend using as wide a lens as possible depending on just how far the lightning is to you without it appearing to small in the viewfinder, like I said mother nature is in charge and there are way to many variables to give aperture settings and lens recommendations. Once again the most important part of shooting lightning is to stay safe and have an " escape to " location close by . There you have it in a nutshell, not too difficult to do and experience will only help with the variables you will encounter along the way, dont set your expectations to high to start as the keeper rate will get more frequent with time. When a lightning storm happens most people head indoors so you need to be comfortable to be outside standing next to a small lightning rod (tripod) with lightning happening al, around you. If while out shooting an event your skin or hair starts to tingle then pack it up and seek shelter immediately, no photoshoot is worth risking your life over, this is not meant to scare but to remind you of the possibility of severe injury or even death could happen in the right conditions. I hope this answers your questions and im sorry if this reply seems long winded.
All the best.....Mike

Stumblebum

Wow you killed it! Good thing it didn't kill you! Bravo!!!

black mamba

I can't thank you enough, Mike, for taking the time to go over your protocol for shooting lightning. It's going to help me immensely. Florida is the lightning capital of the country. I intend to employ your guidelines and see what results I can get. I'm sure my initial results won't approach the dynamics of your work, but it will be fun to see how it comes out.

I applaud you for your repeated emphasis on the safety aspect of shooting lightning. I have personal reasons to know how important that can be. Years ago, my oldest brother was caddying for some golfers when a bad lightning storm came up quickly,,,,as it often does around here. He was lagging behind a little when the two players and the other caddy reached some cover before he did. Lightning hit the cover they sought, killed the other caddy and one of the players. In my own experience, also on a golf course, my group was heading toward a rain shelter hut on our golf carts when lightning hit the hut. Thankfully, none of us had gotten to the hut before the strike. However, it was still a religious inspiring event to me.

Cornflake

Very nicely done! Thanks for sharing these.

spanky117ab

@Cornflake said:
Very nicely done! Thanks for sharing these.

Im glad you enjoyed them.

spanky117ab

@moose135 said:
Very well done, Mike! I've shot lightning a couple of times, and it's always thrilling to get it right - and not get struck!

Not sure why this popped up twice.

Juano

Many thanks for the very detailed explanation.

El Gato

Mike....

Excellent and amazing photos. Bravo!!

Your processing explanation was very interesting, thank you for sharing the process and has been mentioned, emphasizing the importance of safety.

I use to run track in high school, even then outrunning lightning was never a possibility. Now I am afraid the odds have unfavorably shifted severely....your shelter must be very close.

Keep up the great lightning work and stay safe!