Lightning from the 15th of Nov, 2011

[Astroman]

Here are a couple of pics from a night storm we had go over. Had the CG shown on Channel 10 news also :)

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo73/AstromanSID/Weather/storms-128_15112011.jpg

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo73/AstromanSID/Weather/storms-120_15112011.jpg

[BlackWidow]

How do you capture these shots. Do you use a bulb setting, or are the exposures randon. Also what f stop are you using? I have a 300d and I dont think that has sensor exposure. Not tried this before and would like to next storm. I think we are going to get a few here in Adelaide this year



Regards
Mardy

[Astroman]

Hi Martin,

Yes I set the camera to Bulb, and I use an intervalometer to set the times. In the Suburbs I try and set the exposure so the foreground is correctly lit. So I am not blowing out the street lights etc..

In this image I have the following Settings... ISO100, f-stop at f5.6, Exposure at 15s. I set the intervalometer up so it would be continuously shooting at 15s. So I was quite lucky to get the framing spot on.

If this was in rural areas without much light I tend to just hold the shutter open until the strike happens. I always start with the ISO at 100 and aperture at f5.6 then check the photo's and adjust settings if needed.. ie.. increase the f-stop to f6.3 if the bolt is over exposed. I try not to adjust the ISO on my camera. It hates high ISO levels.

[Octane]

Superb images, Andy. I love them.

Would love to try something like this in the environs here. Might have to look at buying a trigger. :)

Thanks for the inspiration.

H

[BlackWidow]

Thanks Andrew I have an Intovalormeter so I will give it a go next time. I looked at lighning triggers, but they look like a bit of hassel to build. This way seems hit and mis, but would be fun looking at your images for a good capture.


Thanks for you help

Regards
Mardy

[bartman]

Thanks Andrew for the info, cause I was going to ask the same as what Martin asked!
Awesome shots!
Bartman

[Astroman]

NP Guys, Glad to help.

[spearo]

great shots!
i have yet to succeed at these at all

well done

love the colors too , the sky looks beautiful in deep blue.

frank

[bartman]

Ditto, forgot to add that; any tips on that or was it straight out of the camera?
Bartman

[bloodhound31]

Majestic, powerful, awesome. What else can I say?

Baz.

[naskies]

Great photos! The people watching the lightning in #1 (your family?) makes the photo for me.

[iceman]

Stunning!

[Astroman]

The photo's is mainly untouched, it is pretty much shot as is, straight out of the camera, only thing I did was straighten the horizon a touch :) and do a little bit of sharpening, which I do to all images anyway. I still haven't even got around to do any noise reduction or dark frame subtraction on it... yes I always do dark frame subtraction on all my night images, because my poor old 400D had a huge amount of hot and cold pixels now.