Lightning Picture
©JP Parmley
©JP Parmley
The most common question I get on my lightning pictures is
about how was I quick enough to catch the shot.
In actuality it is not about being quick with the shutter, it is about
being just the opposite. Almost all of
my shots are taken at 16-20 second exposures.
During that time, what ever lightning took place, ends up in the
shot. If you have 2 strikes at
different times within the shot, both end up in the picture as if they happened
simultaneously.
So what are the details assuming that you are shooting at
night. I shoot from the safety of a
typical home. Do not attempt to take storm and lightning pics from the outside.
Also, you do not want to be near the
windows during a storm so always set up your camera well in advance of an
approaching storm. Place the camera on a
sturdy tripod in a window that is not facing the oncoming storm. I typically use a window facing the north east. This is important because a window that faces
the oncoming storm is very likely to have rain all over it, leaving raindrop
spots all over your pictures. Here are pictures of how I set it up. Notice that I have the rear leg longer than
the two front ones to move the camera as close to the window. Do you see the reflection in the glass? If you don't turn off ALL the lights in the
house when you start shooting, your pictures will show those reflections as
well.
Put the camera in a manual mode that allows you to set the
shutter, aperture and ISO independently.
I usually start of at 20 second
exposures at f16 and an ISO of 200. Put a
wide angle lens (24mm or less) in manual focus and focus it just short of an
infinite distance. Most cameras have the
ability for you to set it for either a single shot or continuous shooting. Use the continuous setting. One of the keys to making this easy and safe
is to use a shutter release device. I
use a wired release cord that allows you to lock the button down. This simulates you holding the shutter
release on the camera as if you were taken multiple shots one after the
other. This allows the camera to
continuously take pictures without you having to be right by the window to take
the next shot.
If you take 100 shots during a storm, 95% of the images will
be a pure black screen. That is
ok....delete them. The 5% that included
a lightning shot will be lit up just perfectly.
Most of the cloud to cloud lightning will not produce enough light to
illuminate the picture, but the ground strikes will jump off the screen.
My opinion is to shoot in a RAW format if your camera
supports it. You are going to post
process these in Photoshop or Lightroom anyways so take advantage of getting
all the possible data.
My next post will cover the post processing that I
perform......hint, it is not much.
Email me the pictures you get and I will post them here and
on the Facebook page.
My images taken on: Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35MM 2.8L Lens, Canon
RS-80N3 release cord
JP
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