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lightning exposure?
With the linghtning storms expected this afternoon, I'm going to try to take some daytime pictures of lightning. Does anyone have any advice on exosure? The lightning is visible during the day, so my guess is that no special expsure is necessary, but last night I tried f/4.0 at ASA 500 and the lightning didn't even register.... Thanks for any advice. -Joel ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Bible and Mishna printouts in Hebrew: http://liturgy.lashon.net/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
#2
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lightning exposure?
On Jun 28, 9:51 am, (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote:
With the linghtning storms expected this afternoon, I'm going to try to take some daytime pictures of lightning. Does anyone have any advice on exosure? The lightning is visible during the day, so my guess is that no special expsure is necessary, but last night I tried f/4.0 at ASA 500 and the lightning didn't even register.... Thanks for any advice. -Joel ---------------------------------------------------------------------------*- Free Bible and Mishna printouts in Hebrew: http://liturgy.lashon.net/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------*- What was your shutter speed? If you take shots at night, you can leave open the shutter and use a black card in front of the lens to block light in between lighting blots. I try and have some thing in the fore ground, like a corner of a house or tops of trees, to give the image scale. Shooting in daylight? Well that is even tougher. You may blow thirty or so exposures with getting nothing. Then one gets it. Using a tripod and framing where you think the next bolt will be is part of the way to get it. Dumb luck is the rest. You didn't say what type of camera you are using. Film? Digital? Type and/or length of lens? This is some info we can help you get that electric image you want. Just don't stand on a hillside, gripping a metal tripod under a tree. Can you say quick Bar-BQ? ;-) Draco Getting even isn't good enough. Doing better does. |
#3
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lightning exposure?
On Jun 28, 10:09?am, Draco wrote:
Shooting in daylight? Well that is even tougher. You may blow thirty or so exposures with getting nothing. Then one gets it. Using a tripod and framing where you think the next bolt will be is part of the way to get it. Dumb luck is the rest. **** on luck! You just gotta be ready and have a quick trigger finger. http://www.pbase.com/bret/image/62735361 |
#4
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lightning exposure?
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
With the linghtning storms expected this afternoon, I'm going to try to take some daytime pictures of lightning. Does anyone have any advice on exosure? The lightning is visible during the day, so my guess is that no special expsure is necessary, but last night I tried f/4.0 at ASA 500 and the lightning didn't even register.... Thanks for any advice. -Joel You must have missed it. F4/500 is almost too much for anyting but distant lighting. F5.6 at 100 is about right for medium distance (a mile or three) storms. Daylight lightning is doable if it 'flickers' for a half a second and you are fast enough to catch a return stroke. You do loose the branching leaders that occur with the first discharge, and are left with a rather anorexic 'pencil' bolt. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Bible and Mishna printouts in Hebrew: http://liturgy.lashon.net/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No thanks.... |
#5
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lightning exposure?
On Jun 28, 10:56 am, Annika1980 wrote:
On Jun 28, 10:09?am, Draco wrote: Shooting in daylight? Well that is even tougher. You may blow thirty or so exposures with getting nothing. Then one gets it. Using a tripod and framing where you think the next bolt will be is part of the way to get it. Dumb luck is the rest. **** on luck! You just gotta be ready and have a quick trigger finger.http://www.pbase.com/bret/image/62735361 Yeah and if you had been looking at the girl in the window you would have missed it. Being ready and a quick trigger finger is the only way to be ready for shots of nature. A great shot all the same. Draco |
#6
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lightning exposure?
Annika1980 wrote:
**** on luck! You just gotta be ready and have a quick trigger finger.http://www.pbase.com/bret/image/62735361 Very Good, but as Draco mentioned, it's the upstroke and the lightning path is direct and not so overwhelming. I think all real daylight lightning shots are that way. http://moblog.co.uk/blogs/2328/moblog_b04deeae846c3.jpg It is the down stroke that looks the best, but the shutter needs to be left open to catch it: http://www.moonraker.com.au/techni/lightning.jpg And if there is too much ambient is looks like the dendrites merge into the sky: http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/educat.../lightning.jpg So, my guess is taking pictures of lightning in daylight won't catch the dendrites: finger is too slow; dendrites aren't bright enough. And never, ever, **** on Lady Luck... -- Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com |
#7
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lightning exposure?
On Jun 28, 1:32 pm, "Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote:
Annika1980 wrote: **** on luck! You just gotta be ready and have a quick trigger finger.http://www.pbase.com/bret/image/62735361 Very Good, but as Draco mentioned, it's the upstroke and the lightning path is direct and not so overwhelming. I think all real daylight lightning shots are that way. http://moblog.co.uk/blogs/2328/moblog_b04deeae846c3.jpg It is the down stroke that looks the best, but the shutter needs to be left open to catch it: http://www.moonraker.com.au/techni/lightning.jpg And if there is too much ambient is looks like the dendrites merge into the sky: http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/educat.../lightning.jpg So, my guess is taking pictures of lightning in daylight won't catch the dendrites: finger is too slow; dendrites aren't bright enough. And never, ever, **** on Lady Luck... -- Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Metershttp://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com Thanks Nick for the acknowledgement of the quote. But it weren't me. It was Greg C who made the comment of capturing the up-stroke bolt in day-light. Some wonderful shots you have found and posted here. Thanks. Besides Brett has been getting Lady Luck PO'd for years. Just check his golf game if you don't believe in pay backs.hehe ;-) Draco Getting even isn't good enough. Doing better does. |
#8
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lightning exposure?
"Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" wrote in message ... With the linghtning storms expected this afternoon, I'm going to try to take some daytime pictures of lightning. Does anyone have any advice on exosure? The lightning is visible during the day, so my guess is that no special expsure is necessary, but last night I tried f/4.0 at ASA 500 and the lightning didn't even register.... Not surprising.....In daylight, your shutter time is so fast that the probability that the lightening will occur at some other time is overwhelming.....You need to trigger the shutter from the flash from the sky somehow.....They have methods of recording the number of lightening flashes that happen over a 24 hour period....I suggest that you contact the meteorology department of a university, or the USGS, and find out what kind of equipment they use for this....Perhaps you can configure it to trigger your shutter...... |
#9
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lightning exposure?
"Annika1980" wrote in message **** on luck! You just gotta be ready and have a quick trigger finger. http://www.pbase.com/bret/image/62735361 Faster than greased lightening? |
#10
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lightning exposure?
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
With the linghtning storms expected this afternoon, I'm going to try to take some daytime pictures of lightning. Does anyone have any advice on exosure? The lightning is visible during the day, so my guess is that no special expsure is necessary, but last night I tried f/4.0 at ASA 500 and the lightning didn't even register.... Thanks for any advice. -Joel The August 2007 Outdoor Photographer Landscape Annual edition has an article about it. Also: http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniq...page=lightning http://www.weatherpaparazzi.com/HowT...hLightning.asp http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~doswell/ltgph.html After dark, use time exposure to capture whatever flashes while the shutter is open. It's kinda like photographing fireworks, but not as predictable - fireworks all burst in the same section of sky. Keys - Car window mount for the camera Something to keep the camera & lens dry 28 - 200 zoom f/5.6 - f/8 & 1/8 to 1/4 sec exposure 30 sec rule, i.e. thunder 30sec or more after flash [safety] distance greater than 6 miles is best [safety] There's a device called a lightning trigger that detects lightning and trips the shutter: http://www.lightningtrigger.com/ |
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