Lightning from my Driveway
Some of the first lightning I ever managed to capture
Some of the first lightning I ever managed to capture
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Sep, 2013Views
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Joebo
September 24, 2013
Nice, lightning have been eluding me for a very long time now. Just don't seem to have the timing taped. Joe
PRO+
bblakesley
September 24, 2013
You can try a lightning trigger, or just multiple long exposures. This is the latter. I kept clicking and hoping I got lucky.
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bblakesley
September 24, 2013
Heh, yeah. I 'll do a lot for my art, but "dead" isn't one of the things I'll do. :)
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bblakesley
October 04, 2013
Thanks! It was on the weaker side, relatively speaking, but still awesome.
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken from my front porch in suburban Phoenix, AZ, USA. It was one of my first ever attempts to photograph lightning, and honestly it was pure luck that I managed to capture it.Time
Summer in the desert is monsoon time. We regularly see thunderstorms between the end of June and the middle of September every year. Sometimes we get rain, sometimes dust, and sometimes nothing at all. THis image was captured on one of those monsoon days, July 18 2010. I had been watching storms pile up to the South all afternoon, hoping we might get some activity. They began to push in towards town just before sunset, which lit the sky up nicely with various orange, pink, red, and purple clouds as the sun dropped over the Western horizon. Just after dark the skies started flickering with lightning and the thunder was booming. We had good storm conditions most of the evening, and this particular image was captured at 8:29 PM.Lighting
The lighting is a combination of streetlights, light pollution, and the fury of Mother Nature. Ambient lighting was what you'd expect to see in a suburban neighborhood at night.Equipment
This image was captured using a Nikon D50 with the 18-55mm kit lens and a tripod. It's 8 seconds at f/8, and ISO 200. This rig was my first DSLR setup and I learned a lot of basics from using it as much as I could in every situation I could.Inspiration
I've always loved the way clouds form, how they build up, collapse, stretch, billow, flow, all based on the wind and any obstructions they encounter. I also like watching storms and experiencing the power of nature. For me, chasing and photographing storms just sort of flows out of those fascinations. I want to share moments in time where nature is putting on a spectacular display, and my inner child spends the whole time I'm shooting storms jumping up and down and shouting whenever We manage to get a good capture. There's just something elemental and raw, but also stunning, beautiful, and unique about storms.Editing
Absolutely. This image was grainy because of the limitations of the sensor in that little D50, so it needed some help in post. There was some noise reduction and color tuning in Lightroom to even out the white balance and remove some of the sooty orange glow from the streetlights. After that, I took it into Photoshop for an extensive spot healing session. There were water spots on the lens (it was sprinkling) and some dust on the sensor that had to be taken care of. After that, there were some other minor spot corrections and a bit of sharpening, and that was it.In my camera bag
I'm a Nikon guy, and my current body is a D7000 that I've had for a few years. When I'm shooting storms these days, my go-to lens is a Rokinon 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC (full manual). It's pin sharp even at f2 and has very little coma even wide open. This gives me a nice wide angle shot and good light capture even in very dark places. I shoot a lot of astrophotography as well, and this lens is perfect for that. In addition, I always carry a Sigma 18-200 DC f/3.5-6.3 as my "walking around" lens. Good flexibility for a variety of needs, and so far I've been very pleased with it. In addition to those, I carry a 35mm Nikkor AF 1.8G and a 50mm Nikkor AF 1.8D in my bag as well. I've got a small Vivitar hot shoe flash and a couple of IR radio transmitters so I can use it off-camera for extra lighting of foreground objects if needed. Various spare batteries, cleaning gear, a 3 color flashlight (white/red/blue) and a UV light for spotting scorpions at night on the desert floor make up the rest of my normal carrying gear.Feedback
The best advice I can give for shooting storms is to prepare ahead of time, and practice as often as you're able. Weather is always unpredictable, and pursuing violent weather is incredibly dangerous. Lightning can strike more than 10 miles from a storm, and violent weather can turn on you in an instant. Be prepared for anything, pay attention to your surroundings, and ensure you have good exit paths in case things become dicey. Get out and photograph the weather whenever you can, in all kinds of weather. Pay attention to how the light changes the scene, and how you have to adjust your settings for the light you want to capture. For lightning, I usually suggest starting with as low as ISO as you can get, and 8 second shots at f/8. Adjust timing, aperture, and ISO as needed from there depending on your gear and your intended results. Above all, have fun and enjoy what you're doing. My inner 5 year old and I both chase storms because we love the thrill of the capture, and as anyone who's shot storms with me will attest, Whoops, shouts, and even little dances are common when I know I nailed a shot. That's what it's about. Having fun and sharing that fun with others.
