i just took this (lightning!)

[nihiles]

ok actually i took it last night but was too tired to post it after i got home.



my first time shooting lightning and i snapped over 200 shots. got about 10 keepers. def happy with my results. <-selfstoke
contrast adjust the darks, cropped and border (shouldve been thinner).

addit: critique etc welcomed.

[gholman12]

First off - SICK shot. I don't have one of those (not so) fancy programs that tells me the exif data, mind sharing? My only issue is the amount of grain in the sides of the image, perhaps you could cut down your iso and open up your lens a bit more? Overall still very, very cool (and you can take out a bunch of that grain in PS if you wanted)

[Yeti]

Most solid. Any summary of your techniques?

[DeutschBag]

Excellent shot! Been trying to get a lightning shot all summer but it's always been raining too hard to get my equipment out when it's going off. Plus, the t-storms always seem to hit my area in Germany when it's light out.

If you're using Adobe Lightroom, I might try toning down the highlights a bit to sharpen things up and use a lower ISO for less grain as gholman said. Otherwise, great shot!

[nihiles]

sorry, should have included the tech specs in op...

2 sec @f22 iso 1600 18mm balanced for fluorescent cause blue light looks faster.

i didnt realize the iso was so high till after i started shooting. i tried to adjust it down but i had already dialed in the settings at 1600 and the storm was moving too quickly to take time to reset everything at a lower iso. havent been shooting enough to be quick with it.
not too familiar with photo retouching but do have PS. just gotta play with it more and learn some shit.

[DeutschBag]

still a great picture. Dial down the ISO. With a tripod, I don't use over 200 and try to keep it at 100 when possible when doing night shots.

Also, no need to shoot at f22 with this kind of shot. I would have dialed it WAY down. As low as possible to maybe f5-6 at the top. I'm no expert, but you'll get a lot better clarity that way and a lot less noise. You have no background to keep in focus, so keep the subject sharp. You can fix any extraneous highlights with PS.

Dude, it still came out great. Keep shooting 'em!

[nihiles]

thanks for the tips. i know all this stuff already from high school and college but the refresh is def welcomed and most importantly i need to get out and shoot more. gotta get comfortable again and start going for the money shots.

...well this shot is pretty money but lots of luck helped!

[NashBoarder]

For some reason I want to say I read where the f stop will have an effect on the width of the bolts. (f 5 = wider bolts, f 15 = smaller bolts) I could be way off here though. Could somebody provide some insight into this?

[Rasputin]

Excellent shot.

[smalls]

For some reason I want to say I read where the f stop will have an effect on the width of the bolts. (f 5 = wider bolts, f 15 = smaller bolts) I could be way off here though. Could somebody provide some insight into this?

similar concept as photographing the sun or other lights which star out at smaller apertures as it allows the light to be more focused.

[truth]

still a great picture. Dial down the ISO. With a tripod, I don't use over 200 and try to keep it at 100 when possible when doing night shots.

Also, no need to shoot at f22 with this kind of shot. I would have dialed it WAY down. As low as possible to maybe f5-6 at the top.

Yep. ISO 100 f/2.8 - 5.6 and shoot it in bulb mode with a remote shutter using mirror lock up on a tripod. There will be a max time you can keep the shutter open to wait for a strike that will be totally dependent on the scene's ambient light. That way you press to open the shutter, count / wait for a strike and close it. Far easier to actually get good captures.

You got your first bolts...now go back and get em right. That ISO 1600 f/22 shit is fucked up.

This was from a few weeks back. Change a few things in your settings and you're there.




I love shooting lightning.

[Bawheed]

Nice! I live in the wrong part of the world for lightning, but I do love a good thunderstorm.

Even though I lived in Dallas for ~5 years, I only managed to take one lightning photograph when I was there!? So much opportunity wasted.

What I was told about photographing lightning was: Lightning isn't just one strike, it's many strikes in quick succession, therefore, open the shutter as soon as the lightning strikes, and keep exposing till the ambient is exposed to your liking. That way, you're not wasting exposures hoping for a lightning strike. This obviously isn't a concern with digital now lol.

I started a bulb exposure as soon as a strike occurred and exposed for a further ~5 seconds. Couldn't tell you what aperture I was using as this was taken ~10 years ago , and there ain't much exif data with Tmax 3200:

[Core Shot]