Originally posted by eaglem Thanks! No, I'll try to stay away from the heat in that part of Canberra!
Originally posted by KiloHotelphoto Love shots like this, I would love to try and do it but but have no idea how it's done, It's on the list of things to learn. I like the first one better also.
The best way would be with a tripod, which I didn't do, and the shot should have been better. I used distant lights for AF then switched to manual focus. Then I set the camera to manual on f5.6 and 6 seconds, then kept taking shots until I was lucky. Actually f8 would have been better for this lightning strike but I honestly wasn't expecting it - all the others had been distant or in the clouds.
Originally posted by mee First one looks natural and rather... striking.. Second one, to me, looks like special effects from Ghostbusters (don't cross the streams! hehe). It is way overcooked.
The Ghostbusters effect is exactly why I like it. I discovered it by accident while adjusting the curves and my hand slipped. So I tried deliberately overcooking it.
Quote: You can do this, Kilo! The real issue (I have) is standing outside during a lightning storm with a camera on a tripod. If you can hear the thunder you can be struck. I've never been shocked but I know someone that indirectly has (traveled through landline) and watching them experience that was terrifying and potentially (thank God it wasn't) deadly. Still gives me shivers thinking about it.. so yeah please be careful. Anyways if the sky is dark (night time) you can just dial in a longer shutter speed, say 3-15 seconds, then point the camera to the area the strikes are occurring (or just shoot super wide), click the shutter button and see if you get one within the window that the shutter is open. Other thing is to prefocus the lens and disable autofocus. If you've ever photographed fireworks, the camera setup is roughly the same. Of course if you have money you can get a lightning trigger though to actuate the shutter when a flash/crash occurs... but what is the fun in that?
Yep, that's pretty much what I did. Fortunately I was on a balcony and lots of other things would be struck before me - like Mount Taylor (the hill in the distance) for example.
Originally posted by jawats Beautiful!
Thank you!
Originally posted by UncleVanya I shoot rockets as another hobby. I once was caught in a heavy thunderstorm on a mile diameter open field. I was safe inside my vehicle but several Darwin wanna be award winners stayed on the grass as the rain fell. The rain pooled up about an inch deep it was falling so fast. One guy was outside trying to hold his aluminum and cloth shade canopy standing in that water in flip flops. Another was sitting in a metal chair. Lightning hit the field about 3/4 of a mile away from our area. Both men received potent but non life threatening shocks. It scared them silly. Me I was cozy inside my van working on my next flight prepping a parachute.
Yikes - you do know that lightning will follow the particle trail of a rocket?
Glad you were ok and sensible!
Originally posted by Ex Finn. The first is great.
Thank you!