ebyas0531

Twisted Light

Lightning storm taken near my home

Lightning storm taken near my home
Read less

Canon EOS REBEL T2i

settings

Aperture f/22.0 ISO 100 Shutter 18/1

upload_date

May, 2013

Views

829

Likes

+81

Awards

Action Award

Zenith Award

Top Shot Award 22

Legendary Award

Staff Favorite

Absolute Masterpiece

+18

Peer Award

+17

Outstanding Creativity

+16

Superb Composition

+15

Top Choice

+12

Jaw Dropping

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 10 rank

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 2

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

PRO+

Excellent.......love it.

Great shot! :)

A great shot! Congratulations!

Congrats!

WOw! Congrats on your award!

Amazing . great shot

This has inspired me to take some lighting shots

Great Shot!!

Awesome capture.

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in my home, indoors and during a spring storm. I was a self-taught photographer and had recently learned about how to take lightning pictures so wanted to give this a try. Due to safety, I set up my tripod in my kitchen with the back door open.

Time

This night was a very interesting one in my photo career as it was for one my first night of taking nighttime photos, and also my first time trying to take a photo of lightning. The storms were rolling in earlier that evening, but with the rain, it was impossible to get a great shot. I also needed to leave the exposure open so had to wait for pitch dark. During this time the rain had ceased and I had just so happened to have the shutter open when this beautiful lightning came into this frame. This has since become my very favorite subject to photograph.

Lighting

Lighting can be tricky. The best thing to realize is that you can take lightning pictures in very different ways, either by leaving the shutter open (must be dark) or by buying a lightning trigger for your camera. Starting out, I feel the first method is the way to go as you can have the potential to get many beautiful bolts in one shot, depending on how long you leave your shutter open. I found it easiest to use a remote and bulb setting and modify based on the current storm. As such, it is helpful to use trackers such as Weatherbug which now feature a lightning strike radar so you can see if there are potential strikes in your area. The best time is at night and with little to no cloud cover, although this one captured a few random clouds in the path.

Equipment

This was my very first camera and my first year of doing photography. This was a Canon T2i and using the 18-55 mm stock lens. I used a remote with a lock function, and set my camera to bulb setting while using a tripod. F 5.6 and ISO 400

Inspiration

I love nature and how it can be very inconsistent with what it produces. I have been fascinated by lightning pictures, but always felt I needed a high-tech camera or specialized lenses to get the perfect shot. Boy was I wrong!

Editing

Very little as the natural light of the lightning, compared with the background seems to provide just the right amount of contrast. I did very little sharpening so the viewer could see the very small lightning forks, and used a small contrast to brighten the bolt.

In my camera bag

I always have a mixed bag depending on my subject I am taking a photo of. To me less is more. I now have a Canon 70D and use the stock lens 18-55 mm and my 50 mm F1.5. I also try to pack a remote, and tripod when I know I will be doing lightning photography. I have some screw on attachments that were very reasonable cost wise for any up close and macro shots. I like to have a broad range of equipment so that I can be flexible in my subject matter.

Feedback

Lightning can be tricky, but well worth the work and effort. The hardest part is tuning your settings to that particular storm. You will find some storms at the same time that appear completely different, so modifications to these subtle changes help to product the best photo. Lightning also varies in size, forks, and distance. Storms where you can physically see the bolts produce crisp, amazingly detailed photos, whereas flash lightning will give you strong areas of brightness, which both can look great. If you can get a cloud shelf in your photo, this just adds to the mystique of lightning. Also, storms come from different locations so knowing ahead of time if a storm is going North East at 15 MPH can help you plan your next shot. Safety however, is #1. When possible avoid being outside in the elements when doing lightning photography. Always have a Safety Plan!! Also, take the time to understand lightning and what produces the different types (there are a few!) Settings are also important. The camera will likely not have time to auto focus on a lightning strike and then get an image, so set beyond to infinity. Set your ISO to the base for night, 100 to 200 for daytime. For aperture, the lightning bolt will not be hitting the ground anywhere near your camera if you plan accordingly so depth of field will not be as important. It is best to play around with a variety of these settings, you may lose some shots, but you can feel out which product the best image. Shutter Speed I always set to bulb as it gives me the flexibility to adjust accordingly based on the environment. Sometimes you can even capture multiple strikes in one frame, which is amazing! To summarize, lightning photography may seem like a feat, especially to the budding photography, but I am living proof that with some basic settings, patience, and ability to change, you will not only learn to love this subject, but realize how SHOCKINGLY easy it is to get amazing photos!

See more amazing photos, follow ebyas0531

ebyas0531

ebyas0531

Twisted Light

Lightning storm taken near my home

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow ebyas0531

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.