Storm over Aikio Island

[finnbay]

Had a storm move across the other end of the lake and frustrated myself trying to catch a lightning bolt. Fifty some shots later, I finally was quick enough to catch one. Also played with a panorama which I haven't done for awhile:

By the way, this is a panorama of Finn Bay of Birch Lake, hence the handle on the avatar!

[Dbl]

Sweeeeeetttttt shots Ken. I know how frustrating it can be to catch a bolt during day light. Really great stuff.

[Steve Foss]

Excellent lightning pano, Ken!

[DeeDee]

Kudos on your patience! Those are great pictures. You guys have some pretty scary storms there.

[Deitz Dittrich]

love the crops on these.. great stuff.

[finnbay]

DeeDee - we sure don't have the market cornered on scary storms - I wouldn't want to be living in Florida when a 'cane is moving through!

Thanks all for your comments!

[311Hemi]

Sweet pic of that bolt!

On the subject of capturing lighting....a process very similar to capturing fireworks can be used. That being placing a card over the from of the lens and using bulb (manual) to hold your exposure as long as you need. When a bolt would happen you pull the card away for a quick second and then place it back over the lens. Not sure exactly on the settings to use for proper expsure so you may need to experiment with that. Hope that makes sense.

We were shown some pretty cool pictures showing multiple bolts that were all gathered over a minutes time in the same exposure.

[Dbl]

311 that works OK at night but doesn't work during the day. Day exposures are fast shutter speeds, you can't move a mask and put it back in 1/250s for instance. You also would have light leaking around any mask during the day, ruining any exposure. Day time lightening captures are very difficult to grab. Part luck, part timing but the results as Ken shows are worth the effort.

Your method is certainly a good technique for night time exposures. With digital I generally just use the timer on the camera for around f8 to f10 at ISO 100 and 20sec. Let it grab whatever bolts happen. You can then blend a few shots together in post to get the same effect you mentioned.

All of my film shots of lightening were done with a mask over the lens, digital has sort of changed how I do that because of instant feedback. If you get nothing in your 15-20sec exposure delete the shot and set the timer again.

[311Hemi]

Good info Dbl! I was kind of wondering that (about only at night) but just thought I would mention it for anyone that was interested. BTW....I have only taken one 45 min class so the info I post was just something new I had taken from that class. What you posted makes sense now that I think of it.

The shots I saw were pretty sweet.....but your right I think they were at night.

[Dbl]

Hey its all good info! And lightening shots are some of the coolest photos around.

[DeeDee]

DeeDee - we sure don't have the market cornered on scary storms - I wouldn't want to be living in Florida when a 'cane is moving through!

Thanks all for your comments!

Well they do bring the blood pressure up a bit. I wish I had a camera for the 3 - 2004 hurricanes that crossed each other a tad south of where I live. As scary as it is those outerbands are quite a sight.

[finnbay]

Absolutely right - both hemi and dbl. Actually, I wanted to get some lightning a few nights ago. I woke up about two in the morning, got all set up, and then the skies opened and it poured - went back to bed. My wife kinda shamed me yesterday. She said (You're willing to get up in the middle of the night to take shots, why don't you get some now in the middle of the day?) Of course, having been a PE teacher and coach, I know what it's like to get a stopwatch started when a race starts, and figured the 5/hundredths of a second it would take to snap the shutter would be just enough to make me miss a bolt. But when challenged, whataya goin' ta do?

[Steve Foss]

I tried some daytime lightning shots yesterday and missed every single one. Shucks, I remember the reflexes I had in my youth. Gone!

Actually, if you have the kind of lightning that sort of hangs there a second, you can get good daytime shots, but every bolt I saw yesterday was an eyeblink long. At one point I even set iso at 100, stopped the aperture all the way down and was shooting at 1/2 sec using the tripod and remote shutter release and just kept it triggering non stop on large jpeg mode, which will allow about 1,200 large jpeg images on my 4 Gb card. Of course, nothing happened during the long bunches of bursts. The lightning only came down when the camera was busy writing to the card!

Grrrrrr.

[Dbl]

I've tried both methods mentioned, reflex and hold down the shutter button and rip away...with about the same success. About one in a couple hundred shots. Not a good average at all, but it sure is fun to try. I does get a bit exasperating though, chimp the shot or shots and....nothing.

[finnbay]

Quote:

chimp the shot or shots and....nothing.

...and more often than not, when you're chimping, a fabulous bolt lasting a second and a half shoots through the sky!

[Dbl]

Quote:

chimp the shot or shots and....nothing.

...and more often than not, when you're chimping, a fabulous bolt lasting a second and a half shoots through the sky!

LOL yep thats what usually happens to me! But I can't help it I'ma addicted to chimping.

[firetiger03]

Great photos!

I have good friends that have a cabin on Finn. I was wondering if you sell these pics?

Dave

[finnbay]

I could be persuaded.