Unleashed

Darn clouds were in the way!

 

And to think about history when around 1750's Ben Franklin thought up the idea of a lightning rod to protect people and buildings, and things grew from there! No way in hell would I want to test that theory!

 

Fast moving storm with some amazing lightning that was happening all over the place. I'd watch one area and it would flash in other areas, back & forth so fast I couldn't keep up. I just picked a spot from my front porch and tried to catch something.

 

*Lightly photoshopped: cropped, darkened exposure and adjusted color warmth hue.

 

 

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How to:

(I'm not good at explaining/teaching so I'll keep it short & easy as possible)

 

What I have learned by trial and lots of errors.......

Out of 400 hundred shots, maybe 4 to 6 will turn out something. Thank goodness for digital!!

 

You need patience and enough time to sit with the storm. Maybe an hour or longer.

Just when you get bored, tired, and want to pack it in.....wait! At the end of it all will be the best freaking streaker in the sky, like it said haahhaaa fooled you - you missed, aaww too bad about your luck!

 

 

Tips (if anyone else has better tips, ideas or tricks - please add them!)

I've only been trying this for two years so far and I've only gotten to catch a few goodies. But where I live, the storms are not as intense. Plus, I have tons of trees in my neighborhood that blocks my view.

 

*If you have the accessory such as the trigger release (aka - trigger remote, cable release, shutter cable) that is used to control the shutter it makes it easier, so you don't have to keep your finger up on the camera's button to take every picture.

 

1. Use a wide angle lens 18mm seems like the standard on most lens.

 

2. Set all you camera's settings to MANUAL (focus your lens to infinity for distance, or just back in off slightly which ever seems the most crisp for your lens). You don't want to have the camera auto focus in the middle of the shots, so make sure to turn off auto focus on your lens. When it's dark out it's hard for the camera to find something to focus on anyways.

 

3. Set camera to BULB mode (to use for long exposures).

You will have to control how long you leave the shutter open.

Fairly quick for about 2 or 3 seconds..

Count in your head, such as: (one-one thousand) or (one-one thousand, two-one thousand).

 

The longer you leave the shutter open lets in more light, which can let in too much light and blows out everything.

 

NOTE: you can use other setting(s) like 1/30th of a second, or maybe 1/60th of a second for quick open/close of the shutter. You can then click like crazy and hope you catch more strikes if there is a lot of action in the sky. You may have to adjust the F/stop somewhat also for the intensity of the light. Hint, try test shots inbetween lighting strikes.

 

**Don't set the camera to use the set timed exposure such as the 2" second to longer because the camera will use that setting and just stay open that length of time. You can't do anything while the camera sits there with the shutter open while all the lighting dances across the sky and lets in way too much light.

 

2. Set ISO 100 or Lo 0.3 (for brightness of the lightning).

 

3. F/stop: F/4, or - F/5.6. I've tried a few others such as F/8 or F/11 and they haven't worked great for me, but maybe I didn't adjust all the other settings to match.

 

4. White Balance - I've only experimented a little with these features and each one looks different. I'm not sure it really matters much.

*Incandescent seems darker hues blacks/blues.

*Fluorescent / Dayling or day white added some pink/blue hue

 

Then.....

-Put your camera on a tripod or something sturdy that angles the lens in the direction of the storm.

 

-Sit in a chair or on something because you might have to sit for about an hour during the storm's activing and show. Make sure the camera stays dry! I sit on my porch, so there's a roof. If you are lucky to have the storm off in the distance and no rain - no problem.

Done