LIGHTNING PHOTOS

agierke said:
lightning in effect has a built in shutter speed much like a speedlight has. though it pulses, it is still a pretty short duration so considerations for exposure should be more about aperture and ISO.

thats why i use 30 secs for lightning shots and i dial in the aperture and ISO to suit the surrounding scene. if your ISO is too high or your aperture too wide open a lightning strike can overexpose the scene. longer shutter speeds only mean more of an opportunity to catch a strike (or multiple strikes) in each frame.
I've never tried these, but this discussion has me interested. How about using a neutral density filter with a long exposure? Would that work with lightning and allow the longer exposure? I guess the important thing is nothing (like a palm tree) that moves in the scene.
 
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Near Cooma, New South Wales (Australia) a few nights ago. The storm was moving away from us, as the stars came out.

5D3 with 15mm - 30 sec @ f2.8 ISO3,200

-9hTn4qTsdsHmi4AjOLJ2wL4WhHmW3bVzHAzyTTC0O1FwEDT1CiuDp10JD1DiWyjtGfchKfedDJh7ja7dB_8gEC6CAoEaubJhb_C6CtRCj1l0gg__Uu5DUy-X11PdPD_xtsYd20At0amVQX9vXQnwP4SyGAlj-KfeyWshFmnxwuCU-JUMfIIjRuKppW1MpojzCnZ4KsesNpOZ2U969UnL-7llE9ABe7EzyLBfX_5DMSnXt-hHtuYuqINgBb-QbtUjMgOUk0ZG4kUfdBhpQbw_PyTxulL0PsrxHo7zIV44nybvVtvDyhHjp8ycPKn5Zm8FeVbO0ItdLUyrKKCTZRRSt3TTyaezr4WKupDNzhk8hdr50vrPN8Y6rQHPuB8G8mgLIUf5DnGoog_eO-4xdNXnhVMuCd21_fy7FnTRFDGKkKTSuj87au1V1P8jlwxisuwW2VofUvbpsbflQohtimuBotr_L5M3PSfC_KtaxuUpKgfbgcgsm_kdo1s59CTNF1Nqa04TnRY9RdlZQeWqgQ07xPgaWjbSR3UZZSyBxuMTPpynlw8B-Lg-mXBTuJNz7VL-sl8=w1000-h606-no
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi Mr Bean.
One should never attribute to luck things that took planning, humping tons of gear to the right place and the patience to sit and wait! ;D ;D
Nice shots from all, Claire, lovely shots, but you have set your bar very high on your first post.

Cheers, Graham.

Mr Bean said:
Thanks Click. One of those "right spot, right time" situations :)
 
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Valvebounce said:
Hi Mr Bean.
One should never attribute to luck things that took planning, humping tons of gear to the right place and the patience to sit and wait! ;D ;D
Nice shots from all, Claire, lovely shots, but you have set your bar very high on your first post.

Cheers, Graham.
LOL, to complicate things, I had checked out a couple of locations during the day for star pic's only, but when the storm suddenly popped up at the last moment, I had to re-scout a location in the dark, which wasn't easy :)
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi dhr90.
Lightning storms here are infrequent too, I can remember as a child laying in bed, I'd have been in bed by 9ish watching a lightning storm on many evenings each summer, now when we do get a storm most often it is the wee small hours of the morning and if it wakes me just an inconvenience, I miss those evening storms and by that I mean I'd take anything before about midnight! ;D

Cheers, Graham.

dhr90 said:
Hope to contribute myself one day, but lightning storms are very infrequent around my area.
 
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Valvebounce said:
Hi dhr90.
Lightning storms here are infrequent too, I can remember as a child laying in bed, I'd have been in bed by 9ish watching a lightning storm on many evenings each summer, now when we do get a storm most often it is the wee small hours of the morning and if it wakes me just an inconvenience, I miss those evening storms and by that I mean I'd take anything before about midnight! ;D

Cheers, Graham.

dhr90 said:
Hope to contribute myself one day, but lightning storms are very infrequent around my area.

I know what you mean about all storms seemingly being in the early hours of the morning, usually when you have to be up early for work the next day too. I would love to go for a month long storm chasing trip to the USA one year!
 
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