Bolts of Lightning over the St Croix Crossing and Allen King Power Station
Jun, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is a shot overlooking the St. Croix Crossing, an extradosed bridge spanning the St. Croix River connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the Allen S King Power Plant in Stillwater, MinnesotaTime
One evening, after a photoshoot, a few coworkers and I were chasing this storm from different vantage points around Stillwater, MN, and I captured this shot right after twilight.Lighting
Capturing lightning is one of the most exhilarating feelings. I was using a low ISO and probably f/8 or f/11 to take longer 8-15 second long exposures to give myself the best chance of capturing bolts. We were lucky this evening because it wasn't really raining very strongly which made for clearer visibility.Equipment
A tripod is essential for long exposure photography, I kept mine low in order to avoid the strong winds from shaking my camera. I shoot on consumer level Canon's, this was probably shot with an older t3i on a pancake 40mm f/2.8. I use an intervalometer set to take each shot 1 second apart. This gives the camera a moment to write the data from the prior shot, but also keeps exposing images quickly in order to give myself a good chance at catching the elusive bolt of lightning.Inspiration
Lightning and other sky phenomena (sprites, meteors, aurora) are difficult to predict and exhilarating to capture. We were audibly cheering as we watched this storm pass.Editing
I believe every photo needs an edit, but I try to keep my edits as simple and natural as possible. I color correct and adjust exposure and contrast, and I also usually crop to level the image or cut out any distracting elements on the edge of my frame.In my camera bag
I pack my bag daily for what I expect to shoot that day. I always grab my fluid head tripod and a wide and telephoto lens option. I keep extra batteries, lens cloths, and cards in my bag with my intervalometer and shutter release cable. I also usually take my GoPro.Feedback
Always, always, always have a camera with you, and preferable also a tripod. This was taken after a shift at my day-job shooting portraiture, and I was expecting to capture a sunset, not a lightning storm. Good thing I was prepared.
