The Bruckheimer Moment
After playing chicken with the cars on this busy Arizona highway, a lightning bolt finally cooperated... It looks like the Bruckheimer bumper at the opening of ...
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After playing chicken with the cars on this busy Arizona highway, a lightning bolt finally cooperated... It looks like the Bruckheimer bumper at the opening of a movie.
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Aug, 2015Views
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mt82lfc
October 18, 2015
Wow!!! Purely amazing. You've definitely captured the 'Bruckheimer' moment. Wish I could have witnessed it myself.
PRO
PRO
one7studios
September 20, 2018
Nice shot! I just started a monsoon challenge. You should enter! https:// viewbug.com/challenge/monsoon-photo-challenge-by-one7studios/gallery
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in Arizona, very close to the Mexican border. After passing through a few border patrol checkpoints, the lightning was so good, I had to pull over and play chicken in the middle of a reasonably busy highway, hoping the lightning would hit in the middle of the road. It didn't, but I think this shot was even better placement.Time
This was pretty late at night - around 10 or 11pm, I believe. I'd been chasing monsoon storms for most of the afternoon and into the night, when finally... Kaboom!Lighting
This was a difficult shot because I needed to capture not only the lightning, but also needed to light my foreground well enough that the road was easily seen, and the vegetation was silhouetted. The first couple of bolts I got here were blown out and really looked gross. This was the result of trial, error, and luck!Equipment
I was using a Canon 5D Mark II, with my Canon 16-35 f/2.8L lens. I had the camera on a tripod, manually focused to infinity, and had a cable shutter release to hold the shutter open on bulb until I was able to capture a bolt.Inspiration
I've always loved those shots from the centre of a road, so when this storm and its lightning started to look like it was lining up, I thought I'd try for a shot with lightning hitting the middle of the road. After 20 or 30 minutes running into the middle of the road and back out of the way of cars (this was a busy highway down to Mexico), always trying to set my tripod up so the road was exactly centred, I got this one. It was a glorious bolt and I just knew that it was in a pretty sweet location. Immediately, I thought of the Bruckheimer opening sequence and sure enough, it was pretty close to perfect.Editing
I'm not very good at post-processing, so this image has had very little work done. I added some more contrast, adjusted the colour balance a little bit (the lightning was too purple before adjusting), cropped to get things a little more centred, dropped the blacks, recovered some of the blown out highlights, and used an adjustment brush to bring back some of the details in the trees and shrubs. I also increased the clarity a bit, and sharpened it.In my camera bag
These days, I've upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark III and a Canon 6D, but my Canon 5D Mark II was also always a staple in my bag. For storm days, I always have my Canon 16-35 f/2.8L lens, my 24-105 f/4.0L, my 70-200 F/2.8L IS, and also generally some manual focus Rokinon lenses for timelapse (14 F/2.8, 24 f/1.4). I also always have a selection of neutral density filters for daytime lightning, a cable shutter release for both cameras, and the Stepping Stones Products Lightning Trigger to help me capture daytime lightning. Tripods are also a must, and if I'm planning on timelapsing, I also have the eMotimo TB3 Black and Dynamic Perception rails. Finally, I always have dry lens cloths, a towel for wiping down the camera, and plastic raincovers. I never bring a raincoat; if I'm getting rained on, I'm not getting good shots, so I try not to jinx myself.Feedback
Capturing lightning is primarily about making sure you are safe. While it is never possible to know exactly where lightning will strike, you are safer from further away. Always use a longer lens rather than getting closer to a storm, and if you are getting rained on, your risk of being too close to a strike rises gigantically. In terms of getting a lightning shot like this, focus is key, and focusing at night can be super difficult. Using a manual focus lens like the Rokinon lenses can help, but if you're using an auto-focus lens, do not count on the infinity focus marking to actually mark where your infinity focus is. It's best to find your infinity focus while there's still light, and either mark the lens (I mark it with white-out or a silver sharpie), or tape your focus ring down so that you can't accidentally change your focus at night. If you can't pre-focus during the day, find a bright light as far away as possible, and use Live View, zoomed all the way in, and manually focus to get the light as sharp as possible. After you've focused, take a test picture and always make sure you zoom in all the way to check your focus. Don't trust the non-zoomed version on your LCD. For nighttime lightning, you need to have your camera on a tripod and ideally, have a cable shutter release attached. I don't like the IR remotes as I find they're not always as reliable as a cable, especially from behind your camera. If you don't have a shutter release, it's better to set your camera on a 2 second timer with between 10 and 30 second shutter speeds. I prefer using the bulb mode because you can hold the shutter open for a few bolts, or at least wait for one without taking multiple empty frames with no lightning. I keep my ISO fairly low (this shot was at 100 ISO), and lightning is so bright, things get blown out easily, and almost always shoot between F/7.1 and F/9.0. The lens is sharpest around that point, and you have enough time on your exposure to leave the shutter open for a longer period of time. Never shoot with a wide open lens unless the lightning is REALLY far away or very faint and you need the extra light.
