capturing the lightning

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Permalink Reply by Royce Costuna on November 2, 2009 at 11:29am

Hi,

you cannot say that a 450D is a normal camera. Maybe you lack in exploring your own camera. In shooting the trail lights like in the moving vehicles, firstly, you need a tripod to stabilize you capturing in the lighting and to avoid a crooked trail lights. it is usually needed when using a slow shutter speed!specially below 1. in your shutter speed settings, try to adjust it
below 5" wherein much slower shutter speed. But don't to forget to adjust also your ISO settings and to put your camera to M=Manual Shooting

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on November 2, 2009 at 8:34pm

thanks Royce ... i don't mean it is a normal camera ... i was actually talking about the strike from the electrical charges or any type of such strike during lightning ... so i was thinking are there any special camera for such shooting or we can use any ...

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Permalink Reply by Jason Fortner on November 2, 2009 at 2:16pm

2-5 second exposure, iso 100-400, apeture f5-f11and I can't think of anything (Except perhaps being struck by lightning) that would damage the camera. Use a tripod. Good hunting

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on November 2, 2009 at 8:35pm

thanks jason, i was also thinking about the strike by lightning ... is it safe to use my camera or not !! ... thanks for ur help ... ! I have to wait untill fall to try for this !!

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on November 3, 2009 at 8:41pm

Thanx pascal ... as i said earlier i have to wait till fall .... hehe ... then i will share definitely ...

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Permalink Reply by Don Bender on November 4, 2009 at 10:58am

Any camera can capture a good lightning shot as long as it has the proper manual settings for adjusting exposure, aperture and ISO to get a long exposure. Shooting lightning is much like shooting fireworks but with much less predictability. By that I mean, you need to use a small aperture and long exposure which also means (somewhat obviously) you'll need a tripod. You may also have to adjust your ISO up or down depending on your ambient lighting conditions. With fireworks you can see when they are about to go off and time your shutter release accordingly. With lightning, you have to press the shutter and hope for the best. You'll get a lot of wasted shots, but if you keep trying, you'll most likely get the shot you're looking for especially if there is frequent lightning.

The best conditions are when a storm is approaching because often the lightning is at the front of the storm and it also means you're not getting poured on when trying to capture the lightning. Sometimes it can work quite well to capture a departing storm too. But either way, it's easiest when you have frequent lightning conditions and you're not in the middle of a downpour. Then you can point to an area where the storm/lightning seems most concentrated and just press the shutter and hope lightning strikes during your exposure. Lightning also has a tendency to flash multiple times before dissipating. So sometimes if you happen to be pointed at the right spot, you can press the shutter the moment you see a flash. That's much trickier and most likely you won't get that initial bright bolt that makes most lightning shots so spectacular. Also, don't stop down your aperture so small you don't get the bright flash of lightning. That's usually not a problem for those big flashes however.

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on November 4, 2009 at 8:50pm

thanks don !

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on May 12, 2010 at 9:14am

i have tried to capture ... here are the results ... frens please comment !!

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Permalink Reply by Joe Meyers on May 13, 2010 at 2:07am

Those are great attempts. Shooting lightning is a hit and a miss. When I try, I may takr over 200 shots or more just to get 4 or 5 keepers. But you just may get the perfect shot. Be very careful if using a tripod. Remember, it will attract it too.

PS- This was a hand held shot. See the blurring at the bottom?

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Permalink Reply by Kiran on May 13, 2010 at 7:38am

great shot joe the first one was also hand held ... .... and i did not use tripod for the rest of the two i kept my cam on a wall ... btw what was the exposure time of ur shot ! ....

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Permalink Reply by Joe Meyers on May 14, 2010 at 12:57am

What I do is have the camera set for "fireworks mode". There is a 4 sec exposure. I'm not sure what camera you are using. But I stand on my porch and hold the camera to my chest, I have an Olympus E-520, and watch for the flashes. I have the widest view from my lens also. As I see one, I face that direction and take the shot, holding very still. Like I said, it's a hit or miss.

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