Thundar!

Associate
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
932
Location
Cardiff
We had some serious thunderstorms earlier this evening. Power was out, any car alarms were going off, general madness. Twas great.
The light outside was bizzare & surreal, and it was very, very windy - unfortunately I didn't really get anything of the lightning, it was moving about too much for me, and there was still enough light to mean that even stopped right down I couldn't get very long exposures. It was great fun just being in it though. Then the rain came, and boy, it really rained - I could hear the rain coming, it was deafaningly loud. In the short jog home both my gear and I got totally soaked - am hoping that my camera // lens is OK actually, cos' it got really, really wet (I took off my shirt and wrapped it in that :o)
I didn't think I had any lightning shots - but on going through them, I did have a tiny tiny bit of it in the far corner of one shot - some serious cropping later (pretty much 100%) this is what I got.

lightning0pt.jpg


Really not great, but better than nowt.

I did, though, nab a few shots of the impressive storm clouds. Lightning was going off in the directions I had the camera pointed, just not when I was exposing unfortunately. A bit of lightning would have made these shots!

1copy5lq.jpg


3copy5cx.jpg


4copy5ec.jpg


And that's it. Perhaps with a little luck I'll get another crack at it in the next couple of days..
 
Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2005
Posts
1,389
Location
Peterborough
Incredible pictures. They always say that power lines are a bit no-no in photos but they really work in your pictures.

The last one is like the scenes in Independance Day when the ships are entering the atmosphere! Is that lightning lighting the cloud or the sun?

*Fingers crossed for your camera* :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
932
Location
Cardiff
Bluebells said:
The last one is a great shot! What are the best settings for getting good lightning shots? Fast or long shutter speeds?

As slow as ye can go - or else you have next to no chance of actually nabbing a lightning shot!

You know I think the main ball of light in the last one may have been from lightning. I had the camera pointing there cos' that's where it was striking lots. It definitely wasn't the sun... So..

AndyBorzi said:
Incredible pictures. They always say that power lines are a bit no-no in photos but they really work in your pictures.
Aye, I realised quite quickly that I was more likely to not get shots of lightning than to nab it - so I was scrambling about this field looking for something to liven the shots up a bit other than just sky. Power lines were all I could find :D



*Fingers crossed for your camera* :)

Aye... Is it supposed to make a sloshing sound? :eek:
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
2 Jan 2004
Posts
1,866
Location
Exeter, Devon
Awesome stuff matey! We got the storms over in Cardiff too, fork lightning dropping down all over the place, quite eerie (and also bucketing down with rain, so I stayed indoors :D ;) )

Hoodi mate, I've got a week or so off now before my exams kick in. Let me know if you fancy meeting up for another photo-sesh!
 
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
932
Location
Cardiff
neverender said:
Awesome stuff matey! We got the storms over in Cardiff too, fork lightning dropping down all over the place, quite eerie (and also bucketing down with rain, so I stayed indoors :D ;) )
Wimp :p

neverender said:
Hoodi mate, I've got a week or so off now before my exams kick in. Let me know if you fancy meeting up for another photo-sesh!
Sounds good! I'm not up to anything much. Have anything in mind?

Aye CyKey, they're HDR gubbins. Brings out the tones in the clouds, I feel.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
387
Location
Division Street
RE: Taking pictures of lightning

If you have the shutter open for a long time will you not get very light pictures, unless it's dark? I tried to take some last night with a failry quick shutter speed, got 1 picture out of 33 attempts.
 
Associate
Joined
2 Jan 2004
Posts
1,866
Location
Exeter, Devon
chino said:
RE: Taking pictures of lightning

If you have the shutter open for a long time will you not get very light pictures, unless it's dark? I tried to take some last night with a failry quick shutter speed, got 1 picture out of 33 attempts.

You'll need to balance the aperture and ISO to compensate to ensure the image exposes correctly. Trial and error really.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
387
Location
Division Street
neverender said:
You'll need to balance the aperture and ISO to compensate to ensure the image exposes correctly. Trial and error really.

Cheers :) although I'm not sure I have that much control on my digital compact. Time to play with the various scene modes... (when we next get some lightning)
 
Back
Top Bottom