Zap Bzzzt,
May, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken from my front yard in Nevada. There is not a lot of Lightning activity in my area so I jumped at the chance to go out and photograph the storm. I enjoy thunder storms.Time
This was taken an hour or so after sunset in early summer.Lighting
I love lightning at night, it's so intense and lights up the surroundings in an eerie manner.Equipment
I used a Canon T2i with an 18-55mm lens, on a tripod and a cable release.Inspiration
Lightning is always on my list of must photograph subjects.Editing
In post processing I needed to adjust the brightness of the shot as in the original frame the flash overwhelmed the sensors, washing out the area where the bolt emerged from the clouds. That area was so over exposed I was surprised that the detail was salvageable from the washed out area.In my camera bag
One or two Canon DSLR Cameras, two lenses 18-55mm and 55-250mm, cable release.Feedback
Getting lightning can be hit or miss. There are two ways I capture lightning. The first method is by counting the time between flashes, and taking rapid shots in the direction of the flashes between counts. After a flash occurs, and hopefully my shutter is open at the time of the flash, I start counting again to predict when the next flash will occur and start shooting again in rapid succession until the next flash occurs; keep repeating. I'll end up with maybe 50 to 150 shots in one session, with maybe a quarter of the frames that actually have a lightning bolt in it. This is kind of hard on the DSLR, and don't do it with film. The other method is to count the same way but video until the next flash then clip out the best frames. It's easier on the camera and you can get different exposure results in frames with the same flash to pick from in post editing. You also have more success of actually capturing a bolt. A better way is to buy one of those sensors made for capturing lightning. If there were more lightning activity in my area, that's what I'd do.
