Lightning over Spionkop
A two minute exposure of a storm over Spionkop Dam in KZN, South Africa 2016
A two minute exposure of a storm over Spionkop Dam in KZN, South Africa 2016
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May, 2016Views
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Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photography Day Photo Contest 2016
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glennmarcus
July 05, 2016
Strong composition with the repeated lines created by the electrical storm. Excellent.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was shot from outside our camper van looking north east. A huge storm had rolled over us as night fell and as soon as the torrential rain passed I set up my tripod looking out across the dam as the storm moved away.Time
It was just after eight in the evening.Lighting
I've always wanted to shoot lightning, but we seldom get it in the UK where I live without torrential rain, so this was a real treat. I don't really like stacking images, so was delighted that there was enough of a spread of lightning to get this image in a single exposure.Equipment
Canon 5D MKIII, Carl Zeiss 2.8 21mm lens, 111 seconds at 6.3.Inspiration
I've always wanted to shoot lightning, and Africa has the best storms, especially around the Drakensburg mountains. It was just luck that I was in the right place at the right time.Editing
I used Lightroom for post-processing, increasing the contrast to help pump up the lightning bolts, and adding clarity to the cloud base to add definition.In my camera bag
I of course carry far too much kit in my camera bag, but if I leave anything out it's always the thing I need. I only have one body at the moment, my Canon 5D MKIII (dreaming of getting the 5DR soon). My go-to general lens is the Canon 24-105, my favourite portrait lens is my Canon 80mm 1.2, a Carl Zeiss 21mm for landscapes and the Canon 80-200 2.8. I carry the Lee Filter set of rings for all lenses as well as a .6, .9 & 1.2 soft ND grad and a Big Stopper - as well as a polariser and screw in ND. Cable release, 2 tiny back-up remote shutter releases, four batteries, 4 Sandisk 32gig fast SD cards, a rain cover, lens cloths, blower and shaving brush (for cleaning not shaving), head-torch and spare batteries. Far too much!Feedback
Shooting lightning is fun and always a bit of a gamble. First up, don't stand out on open ground with lightning over head or it will shoot you - you'll make a first class lightning conductor. Get into a good position and frame carefully, just capturing lightning isn't enough, the image has to work on it's own. Basically treat it as though you're shooting a landscape, with added lightning. If you're lucky enough to be able to get water in the foreground that can greatly enhance the shot. I'd love to have gone down to the lake to get more water in this pic, it just wasn't an option at the time. Obviously use a tripod and cable release, and when the shutter is open try to count the strikes and visualise where they are in your image. You wan't a good spread, and ideally not multiple strikes in close proximity as this with blow out your image. I try to shoot everything at ISO 100 because it's so much cleaner, but that all rather depends on your camera. You can of course just shoot single images of each strike and then stack them up in Photoshop, but it's not nearly as satisfying as capturing all the action in a single image.
