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Lightning at Amelia Island
CCoop
Registered Users Posts: 511 Major grins
Vacationing at Fernandina Beach, up comes an evening storm at sea. So I grab the tripod ... As always I invite your comments and suggestions. (Technical details at bottom.) --Carter
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Canon 70D with Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 at 17 mm. Most exposures are 30 sec, f/16, ISO 100. I used a dark neutral density filter at dusk ... then removed it when it got really dark. Noise reduction to 80 in Lightroom. The storm didn't move for an hour and a half, so I just shot away while visiting with family. Biggest challenge: focusing after dark, even using live view. So here are my questions:
***focusing tips at night
***color balance. I brought color to about 5200 to warm it up (except #10 which I apparently skipped--see the blue halo around the lightning bolt? and desaturated a tad to get rid of some reddish fringing around the highlights
***crop. I kept it wide to capture the drama of the clouds and not just the detail in the lightning bolts
***overall exposure and brightness. On my main monitor the clouds look dark and ominous. Here now on my laptop, they look too bright.
I welcome your thoughts and help! --Carter
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Canon 70D with Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 at 17 mm. Most exposures are 30 sec, f/16, ISO 100. I used a dark neutral density filter at dusk ... then removed it when it got really dark. Noise reduction to 80 in Lightroom. The storm didn't move for an hour and a half, so I just shot away while visiting with family. Biggest challenge: focusing after dark, even using live view. So here are my questions:
***focusing tips at night
***color balance. I brought color to about 5200 to warm it up (except #10 which I apparently skipped--see the blue halo around the lightning bolt? and desaturated a tad to get rid of some reddish fringing around the highlights
***crop. I kept it wide to capture the drama of the clouds and not just the detail in the lightning bolts
***overall exposure and brightness. On my main monitor the clouds look dark and ominous. Here now on my laptop, they look too bright.
I welcome your thoughts and help! --Carter
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Comments
Some real beauties in there... can't (and don't need-to
Thanks for commenting ... I appreciate your eye and experience! I was amazed to get multiple strikes in these 30 sec exposures. And even more surprised how long the storm stayed put, begging to be photographed, about an hour and a half! Thank you so much! --Carter
These are spectacular shots of some spectacular weather. And I do have to pick a favorite - #7 with lightning below and above the clouds! And thanks for the tutorial in your processing.
Photos: jowest.smugmug.com
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Much better to shoot lightning with continuous exposures than triggers, you lose the leaders when you need to wait for the trigger to respond.
I actually like the color response of #10 the best
At night, if you don't have any nearby foreground that you want to keep in focus, just focus to infinity, and maybe back off just slightly. If you have enough light that you need the ND filter, you can probably pre-focus and mark the lens before putting on the ND filter.
One of the things I like about this series are the double decker clouds, and seeing the ground strike bolts inbetween the cloud layers.
APS-C/17mm and f16 should be a pretty forgiving setting for focus. If you find a subject at 10 ft distance and accurately focus it*, then everything from 2.4 ft through infinity should be in DOF. *(You can use your built-in flash for crisp illumination on the Canon 7D and just find 'any' subject at 10-ish distance, manual focus on that and confirm focus by chimping with magnification. An external flash with an AF Assist will speed the process, just set manual focus after the AF finds the subject at 10 ft.)
Please do remember that the 7D has a fairly strong Anti-Alias (AA) filter on the imager and that f16 will cause diffraction, so strong post-processing sharpening is indicated.
It does seem that you need to calibrate your monitors. At very least you can try adjusting brightness and gamma by using some monitor calibration images:
Download the following and make sure that your monitors allow viewing even step gradations and all grayscale and color tone steps:
http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/photo/calibration/calibration_b.jpg
Likewise:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/content_images_2/ok_ramp4.gif
http://www.colour-science.com/quality%20test%20tools/test%20files/Reference%20Print%20monitor%20900x600pixel.jpg
While you're at it, straight print (no alterations or adjustments) the following images using your normal process(es), then try to match the prints to your screens. This tests your ambient lighting as well as your monitors, although screen calibration is still recommended.
sRGB
https://photos.smugmug.com/SmugMug/Prints/Test-prints/Calibration-prints/i-TccrMm3/4/L/Calibration-062904-L.jpg
http://www.peak-imaging.com/downloads/Fujical.jpg
http://www.colour-science.com/quality%20test%20tools/test%20files/Reference%20Print%20printer%202362x3543pixel.jpg
AdobeRGB
http://www.midsouthcolor.com/Download%20Files/MSCL%20Calibration.jpg
http://www.digitalmasters.com.au/Calibration_Print_Adobe_RGB.jpg
These images are very enjoyable, so you're obviously doing capture and processing correctly.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Super shots, and one of those I've often considered trying, but don't fancy getting fried!