brennanellis

Storm 02-12-14

Canon EOS 70D

settings

Aperture f/8.0 ISO 100 Shutter 20/1

upload_date

Dec, 2014

Views

371

Likes

+34

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Awesome capture.

Thanks Mate :)

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Lightning Strike captured from Pearl Beach NSW

Long Exposure taken of Carnival Rides in Gosford NSW Central Coast

Behind The Lens

Location

This Photo was taken at Koolewong on the NSW Central Coast, Australia towards the end of a long night of Storm Chasing.

Time

This Image is definately one of my favourites from a long list of shots taken in a great night of Storm Chasing. The Night started after I finished my day job at 4:00pm in Erina on the Central Coast NSW. I had been watching the radar all afternoon and decided to head north an hour or so to Bar Beach in Newcastle, NSW. After staying at Bar beach for a few hours and getting some nice shots i decided to head into the heart of Newcastle for a new location, The storm had somewhat calmed when I arrived at my new location, however there was still some activity around. After an hour or so the action had completely stopped so i decided to head south further towards home and as I reached my exit off the freeway this storm came over. I found my location with no time to spare, Set Up and watched this awesome new light show before me, after probably 2 hours the storm had passed over. Wondering what to do next and on an adrenalin rush i didn't want the night to end so i headed to the coastline to check out what was happening out to sea. I headed to MacMasters Beach where there was a bit of action happening. I stayed at MacMasters Beach for an hour or so and then called it stumps and packed up and headed home, the time by this stage was around 2am, 10 hours of pure excitement and amazement in a night I wont forget in a hurry.

Lighting

Taking Photographs of Lightning is an adrenalin rush, Exciting, Awe Inspiring but can also be dangerous (obviously). If you want to capture lightning, I cant recommend it enough but it is Dangerous and you need to look after your health and safety and use common sense! Generally, settings for Lightning depend on your location and the ambient light around you but I normally start with ISO 100, f8.0 and 20-30 secs. These settings are adjusted to suit but only my aperture and shutter generally. I tend to find raising the ISO will result in a blown out lightning bolt if its a decent size, lets be honest the ones you want to keep are the big ones.

Equipment

I used a Canon 70D with a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II lens on a tripod and using a remote shutter release.

Inspiration

My love for Storm Photography :) they just need to happen more often. I chose this spot with the boats in the foreground to add a sense of

Editing

Just basic raw processing in lightroom. I shoot in auto WB so I adjusted the White Balance, Lowered highlights a fraction, lifted shadows, set white and black points, a bit of clarity then noise reduction and sharpening.

In my camera bag

As I am very much an amateur, my equipment is fairly basic but it gets the job done for me for the time being. I have a Canon 70D with the following lenses: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Canon 50mm f1.8, Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Kit Lens as well as a cheap Slik Tripod, Manfrotto Monopod, Remote Shutter Release, Cheap Filters, Yongnuo Speedlite and Remote Triggers. In a Tamrac EVOLUTION 8 Photo/Laptop Sling Backpack.

Feedback

Get out there and give it a go. Keep an eye on the radar but don't trust it completely, Look outside and see for yourself. I have seen some of the best lightning shows that aren't showing up on the lightning tracker radar like Weatherzone. Find a location that can give you some foreground interest that will add some sense of scale to the image. Longer the shutter speed the less images you will need to delete but if its too long the lightning captured can become blown out, use bulb mode and close the shutter after there's a nice big bright and reasonably close strike. Most importantly Be Safe and try and be under a shelter if you can (not a tree!)

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brennanellis

Storm 02-12-14

Behind The Lens

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