Lightning Tonight

[sheeny (Al)]

Just a few shots from tonight's storm.

There were some brilliant cloud strikes on the way home late this arvo but despite getting set up with ND filters on the camera as soon as I got home I wasn't able to catch any. But a second storm wasn't long behind that one. These were captured later with the Oly E510, 14-42mm lens at 14mm, tripod mounted, ICNR off, cable release, no ND filters.

Median noise reduction and mild unsharp mask, and saved for the web in PS CS3.

Al.

[h0ughy (David)]

Geez Al there is a heap of noise in those shots but the lighting is terrific!!

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Wow Al - very cool. My fave is #3. Well done to capture them - I've tried on a couple of occasions and always mistimed it.

[iceman (Mike)]

Great stuff Al, I saw on the radar there was some hammering out West but by the time it reached us, nothing!

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Geez Al there is a heap of noise in those shots but the lighting is terrific!!

They're Christmas lights!... yeah, I know I should shot some darks but I forgot - thought I'd be OK with noise reduction in PS. I had a little play with noise reduction in PS and settled on median. It got rid of the blue noise, but the red spots are spread over more then one pixel so to kill them was going to kill too much detail. A dark would've been the go. I haven't tried noiseworks etc yet.

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Wow Al - very cool. My fave is #3. Well done to capture them - I've tried on a couple of occasions and always mistimed it.

Lots of long exposures in rapid fire and throw out the duds. That's my secret.

Originally Posted by iceman

Great stuff Al, I saw on the radar there was some hammering out West but by the time it reached us, nothing!

Yeah it looked like it was heading your direction on the radar. There's good and bad in that... no opportunity for lightning photos, but less risk of damage too.

All these were 15s exposure, 400ASA. The irst 2 were at f/11 and the last 2 at f/8.

Al.

[jakob]

Well done, Al.
Very well captured, the second is my favorite.
J.

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by sheeny

All these were 15s exposure, 400ASA. The irst 2 were at f/11 and the last 2 at f/8.

Hi,

I don't think you need to use ISO 400, 100 will be just fine. Also, I limit my exposures to 5 seconds to avoid noise build-up.

I remember seeing a documentary about a lightning photographer in Florida. He said that nearby lightning strikes momentarily illuminate the surroundings with similar intensity as daylight, so your camera settings can be the same as a daylight shot except for the exposure length. I've found this works for me.

Hoping to get some decent lightning in Sydney soon!

Cheers

Morton

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Great shots Al! Well done.

Cheers,
Stephen

[RB (Andrew)]

Onya Al !
You brave man !

[sheeny (Al)]

Thanks guys.

Originally Posted by MortonH

Hi,

I don't think you need to use ISO 400, 100 will be just fine. Also, I limit my exposures to 5 seconds to avoid noise build-up.

I remember seeing a documentary about a lightning photographer in Florida. He said that nearby lightning strikes momentarily illuminate the surroundings with similar intensity as daylight, so your camera settings can be the same as a daylight shot except for the exposure length. I've found this works for me.

Hoping to get some decent lightning in Sydney soon!

Cheers

Morton

Makes sense, Morton thanks for the tip.

I was using 100 ASA earlier in the afternoon trying the get the late arvo lightning with ND filters etc, but I reverted to 400ASA for the night shots, which is what I've always done. I think it's a carry over from existing light photography that I probably haven't fully thought through.

I'll play with it next time!

Al.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Al,

Some wonderful shots there.

Well done!

Regards,
Humayun

[Smirnoff]

Great shots! lots of activity around our land these days. Had a supercell outbreak here in Melbs on Thursday but don't have camera to record it