Lightning Shot...

[TheOtherGuy]

Have not posted in a long time.
How bout a recent lightning shot.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3618135839_e753ee38d0_o.jpg

[ErikH]

Very nice shot! I gotta show my wife... :)

[mikedelgado]

stunning!

[LoneStar]

Very Nice


email sent!

[hobogato]

wow! care to share how you did it? - yaknow, camera settings, lens, etc.

[Mr Cob]

A W E S O M E !

It really is a beautiful thing!

[Bill S]

Nice, Mark. VERY very nice!

[tony]

wow! nice shot mark

[clone]

Man that shots great!!!!!!!
im intrested in what Ace asked ,what settings and lens.maybe ?-300mm
anyway ive got a new screen saver,since im so intrested in storms.

[beareef19]

Mark is the camera GUUROO Nice to see your still around.
Barry

[TheOtherGuy]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I was excited to see this shot. Lightning photos are like fishing sometimes you get one sometimes you don't but I always find a way to drink a few cold ones during the process so all is not lost. LOL.

Anyway,

Lightning shots are fun to try to get and can take some experimenting and some luck but there are things one can do to improve their odds of getting one or two good shots.

1) Location with a good view. Parking garage, hilltop (careful), balcony etc...
2) Tripod
3) DSLR preferable but P&S will work fine if you can control focus and other settings manually.
4) A good lightning storm to photograph. Duh. I find the best shots come from storms after the storm has passed your immediate location. For example, this storm was a storm that formed up in north Texas, headed this way, but went to the east of my house. Fortunately this storm moved into the valley where I have a nice scenic view.
5) Manual focus. Set to infinity. On DSLR lenses they typically focus just past infinity (wtf?-really?, yes.). Turn all the way to infinity and then back off a smidge.
6) Shutter. 10-30s or Bulb with external shutter release. I prefer Bulb with release but I do not have one for the D300 yet so I went with 30s exposure. If using 30s exposure and you get too many lightning bolts in one exposure you could over expose. If using 30s or any length of time and you get a few good shots in that one exposure, cover the lens till time is up.
7) F-Stop. It can vary but generally f4-f8. I choose f4 for these cause the lightning was pretty far away and wanted as much light as possible. If lightning is close, might need to use smaller aperture (bigger f-stop number). Some suggest using f8-f11 which improves DOF but sometimes they come out way too dark.
8) 6 and 7 can vary quite a bit - just depends on the situation. Take a shot, chimp it, and make adjustments as needed.
9) Fire away. Take lots of pictures. Typically only a few are keepers and lots of images go to the trash bin.
10) That is the basics. I will try to answer other questions if you have them.

Thanks for looking.

[TheOtherGuy]

Here is the EXIF poo.

Camera: Nikon D300
Exposure: 30s
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 46 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[TheOtherGuy]

Oh one more thing. Very important! Be careful when it is very dark and there are large lab puppies running around you going nuts. They just might slam into the tripod and cause damage to the equipment. I caught it just before it was about to crash to the ground. Notice the mysterious ufo lights which are lights in the distance and should not be moving.... Sit Boo-boo Sit! LOL.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3591/3618811806_0cd0ba0040_o.jpg

[apedroza]

I think I actually like the 2nd one better.!!! Good doggy.

[TheOtherGuy]

I didn't do NUTHIN!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3343/3443985954_b418f0f1c8_o.jpg

[clone]

man seriously GREAT shots!!!!!!!