Lightning

After a few attempts this summer, I finally caught a shot of some lightning. We had some wicked storms roll through Chicago this past Thursday, and after I got home from work I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and trying to capture some of the amazing light show.

I didn't have time to brush up on my "how to shoot lightning" research, so I was guessing at camera settings. I used manual mode, set the focus to infinity, and used f/8 aperture with a shutter speed of 2.5 seconds. I had my long lens on, the 70-300mm with image stabilization. I think in future attempts I might want to go with a wide angle lens (though I don't have one yet! LOL - the kit lens 18-55mm that came with the Rebel is the widest angle I've got).

I vaguely recalled reading of a guy who would just set the camera on bulb mode and leave the shutter open for a couple minutes, then close and repeat. I tried longer shutter speeds like that, but there was a lot of flash lightning mixed in with the bolts, so it wasn't really working.

I was doing all of this from the safety of my bedroom, shooting from my window. This particular shot that I got was actually hand-held. I was pretty much pressing the camera between my body and the window, with the lens resting on the window sill. Eventually, I ran down to get my tripod, but by then most of the good lightning had passed.

I used Adobe Lightroom to fix the exposure a bit (it was overexposed), blacken the blacks, and add the purple tint. My free trial finally ran out on Lightroom, but I've enjoyed using it so much that I purchased it, along with the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	2.5 sec (5/2)
Aperture:	f/8
Focal Length:	70 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV
Flash:	Flash did not fire

Photography Causes Sleep Deprivation

Photography causes sleep deprivation - news at 11.

:) Actually, my love of thunderstorms and subsequent desire to capture the all elusive lightening bolt on film (thanks to my new hobby) causes sleep deprivation, at least when a t-storm rolls in late at night when I'm about ready for bed.

I tried to snap some lightening last night. No, I don't have a tripod yet (well, I didn't as of last night! I picked up a cheap one on sale at Best Buy today, until I get my dream tripod from B&H Photo), and no, the shutter release cable I ordered hasn't arrived yet, but that didn't stop me from trying! There wasn't much streaky cloud-to-ground lightning going on last night, though, and I don't think I caught any. I haven't pulled the images off the memory card yet, but I'm pretty sure I hit an oh-fer last night.

I did, however, find some good resources on photographing lightning, for the next time I try!

How to Take Lightning Photos by Matthew Cole - there were a lot of lightning photography how-to's out there, but for some reason I found this one the most helpful. Maybe because his explanation of the process and f/stop explanations made the most sense to me?

Lightning Probability Radar - a map from the National Weather Service (USA) showing the probability of lightning strikes over 3 hour time blocks. Go find a storm!

Current National Radar (USA) - found this link in Cole's article. I like it because it's simple, easy to read, and easy to zoom in on your area (just click the map).

I read a lot of other articles, but didn't bookmark any. Most sites were specific to how to photograph lightning with a film camera. I'd love to find some information specific to digital SLR's. If you know of any good sites for tips on how to photograph lightning, let me know!