ABradford

Thunderbolt

Shot this and many other lightning pics instead of doing homework. Worth it!

Shot this and many other lightning pics instead of doing homework. Worth it!
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NIKON D5300

settings

Aperture 56/10 ISO 2000 Shutter 39/10 Focal Length 280/10

upload_date

Oct, 2016

Views

Likes

Awards

Winner in Lightning Photo Challenge

Magnificent Capture

Top Choice

Peer Award

Superb Composition

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this in front of my house while standing on my stone mailbox for a better view.

Time

It was a little before nine pm. It was plenty dark out, so the lightning really stood out.

Lighting

Honestly, I didn't take this to try to evoke some sort of emotion. I didn't have a plan for this. In fact I didn't know it was going to lightning as much as it did. I originally was shooting the storm clouds at sunset with the moon, but as it got further into the night the lightning really picked up and got exciting. The good lightning lasted about an hour then it basically quit all together.

Equipment

This was taken with my nikon d5300 with the kit 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 G II mounted on an old tripod.

Inspiration

I've seen some pretty cool lightning pictires on several different sites and from countless different photographs and I wanted to try to capture something similar for my self. This storm that rolled in was really good at producing bolt lightning and I thought it would be a great chance to get started into learning about lightning photography.

Editing

I did not do any post processing on this image.

In my camera bag

I carry my camera, a nikon d5300, my lenses (a kit 18-55mm, a kit 55-200mm, and a sigma 10-20mm f/3.5), my remote shutter release, a variety of lens filters, and several memory cards.

Feedback

The way I took this picture was that I got a feel for the pattern of the storm's lightning strikes and timed my shot to try and catch a bolt. I was shooting in bulb mode by hand but it's a lot easier to do with a trigger. I would recommend a lens no larger than 50mm for shooting lightning, and I would recommend using a fast lens and sturdy tripod.

See more amazing photos, follow ABradford

ABradford

ABradford

Thunderbolt

Shot this and many other lightning pics instead of doing homework. Worth it!

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow ABradford

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