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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
A few tips on how to capture such lightning:
First of all you need a sturdy tripod to make sure you camera is very steady. Catching lightning discharge is not based on reflex but on long exposures. The exposure varies from a few seconds to minutes, based on discharge frequency and the amount of ambient light at the location you are shooting. In this case there has been a lot of ambient light, because of city lights, so I had to use short exposures to make sure I do not burn the picture (burn = make it too bright). If the sky is too bright, the lightning bolt will blend with it and there will be no chance to repair it. So it is important to keep the brightness level ratio between the sky and the lightning quite big.
There are 3 parameters you have to think about, when shooting lightning: ISO, exposure time and aperture. I always keep the lowest ISO in ma camera, which is ISO100. This way I get rid of any unnecessary noise in my pictures (post processing often enhances noise patterns in the picture, so it is good to keep noise level low at least in the camera). With the exposure time you control the brightness of the ambient light in the picture, but you DO NOT control the lightning brightness. It is the aperture which does the trick, and controls the lightning, but also the ambience. The trick is to set the last two parameters according to the situation you are in. For example: if there is almost no ambient light (you’re in the desert, rural area or any place far from the city or any big light source) and the storm is far away, you can use long exposure (even a few minutes) and wide open aperture. The same situation, but the storm is much closer: you still can use longer exposure, but higher aperture in case the lightning is too bright. When you are in bright area (city), you are forced to use shorter exposures (during this storm I catch almost 70 discharges, with exposures varying from 2s to 15s).
Another thing you should know is that lightning photography is a hard work for your lens. It’s a crucial thing to have some good lenses. I use Tamron 17-50/2.8, Canon 50/1.8 and Canon 85/1.8. If I stop them down to say f4 or higher, I may be sure there will by almost no chromatic aberrations or coma in the picture, which can spoil everything.
Finally I should say, I always use RAW file format for this type of photography. It is because with RAW file you can control exposure in post processing (+/- 2EV in Adobe Camera Raw) This can save the photo sometimes, if you overexposure parts of it. RAW also lets you set the white balance after the picture is done.
I hope these few tips will help you :) |
jjcordier has marked this note useful
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- bri
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 311 W: 0 N: 365]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1998) - [2009-05-25 12:00]
- [+]
Fantastic capture of a lightning strike - can you post notes to help us learn how you did this - Cheers
Bri
Very nice lighting image. The composition is strong and the exposure is perfect. TFS
Hi Piotr!
how long u waited to catch that
wonderful light colors and details
impressive
well done
Greetings,
Oana
Piotr
Fantastique capture!Merci pour tous les détails techniques que j'essaierai d'appliquer au prochain orage (jusqu'ici mes essais ne sont pas concluants!). Une photo très impressionnante!
Amicalement
JJ
Czesc Piotr.
Jak ja ci zazdroszcze. Jedno z moich fotograficznych pragnien. Utrwalic burze. Niestety mimo deszczu przez 330 dni w roku, burzy w Irlandii nie uswiadczysz.
Znakomicie skomponowales to zdjecie. Budynek w prawym dolnym rogu i pioruny po skosie, oddales potege zywiolu.
Swietna ostrosc i kolory.
Piekne.
Pozdrawiam
Wojtek
![Silver Note Writer [C: 6 W: 0 N: 30]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/n-n-s.gif){kind=small}
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 510 W: 193 N: 665]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(4890)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 161 W: 21 N: 487]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(3020)
Hi Piotr,
Good shot, lucky timing! It's a shame that the building on the right is so ugly, but, nevertheless, your lightning is tremendous
TFS
Michael