Where's the rain?

[Errz]

thunder and lightning, in the end.. no rain. zzzz

[lennyl]

I don't know why your image failed to show up. Here's the link to it for others wondering "where's the image?".

http://www.igloophotography.com/gall...1/IMG_3968.jpg

I saw the lightning and, unable to get a good view of the sky, ran out with my tripod and camera. The sky rewarded me with a spectacular lightning flash across the sky while I was setting up. And when I'm ready to shoot, all lightning activity stopped.

In retrospect, running out when there's lightning may not be the most intelligent thing to do...

[Errz]

Originally Posted by lennyl I don't know why your image failed to show up. Here's the link to it for others wondering "where's the image?". http://www.igloophotography.com/gall...1/IMG_3968.jpg I saw the lightning and, unable to get a good view of the sky, ran out with my tripod and camera. The sky rewarded me with a spectacular lightning flash across the sky while I was setting up. And when I'm ready to shoot, all lightning activity stopped. In retrospect, running out when there's lightning may not be the most intelligent thing to do...

ah i know why doesnt show.. fix it already.

I shot this from my room. But after fixing everything up.. only manage to get this. the rest no luck. always miss it. LOL

[lennyl]

I got a few, but not sure if it is worth posting (got to PP the raw files first, but at first glance nothing spectacular). Surprised you got such a good lightning capture at ISO 800 / f14. I shot at ISO 400, f4.5 (more than 2 stops faster, considering ISO and aperture) with my ultrawide and the lightning was not very bright. Had a hard time balancing blowing out the foreground and having the lightning bright enough, ended up with lots of 4 second exposures - major PITA.

Noticed that most of the lightning yesterday was cloud to cloud. Some of them were pretty spectacular.

Best lightning I've shot was taken about 5 years ago without tripod on a point and shoot (stabilized on window sill). Pure dumb luck as I didn't know what I was doing

[amaninus]

NICE!!

Can I know what's the setting (i manage to find out your picture is iso 800, f14, 6s. What metering mode you using? Did you shoot in manual mode?). What lens are you using with your 5D?

I took quite a while to set up my tripod too. manage to get a few and PS it. But it somewhat looks...
I used ISO 800 too, but high noise. (mine is 350D).

This is my 1st attempt on lightning. Can you please tell me what's wrong with my pictures? (Initially shoot with iso 100, but realise its too slow, then switch to iso 800)


iso 100
f11
120s



iso 800
f2.8
1/20s


iso 800
f2.8
1/15s

Thanks in advance.

[labla]

Hahaha here's mine took with a compact so... was waiting for like 1/2 an hour. Crazy.... took till my camera batt when out then a rainbow came out
details are:
Exposure:1/160
thats all :P

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by amaninus iso 800 f2.8 1/20s

You managed to shoot lightning at 1/20 sec???

Is there an emoticon for kowtow? I'm impressed. You're either very lucky, have killer reflexes, or you're shooting one heck of a thunderstorm.

I haven't nailed shooting thunderstorms yet (not many thunderstorms in Northern California, and my current house doesn't have a great view of the sky). Next time I have a chance, I'm going to try shooting the foreground first, then use long exposure and high ISO for the lightning, and blend the two images together.

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by labla took with a compact so... was waiting for like 1/2 an hour. Crazy.... took till my camera batt when out then a rainbow came out details are: Exposure:1/160 thats all :P

Man, you another one. Do you just set the camera to click away until memory full / battery flat or do you wait for a lightning? I'd think that with most compacts the lag is so long that by the time you hit the shutter release, the lightning'd be gone.

[labla]

Originally Posted by lennyl Man, you another one. Do you just set the camera to click away until memory full / battery flat or do you wait for a lightning? I'd think that with most compacts the lag is so long that by the time you hit the shutter release, the lightning'd be gone.

Haha that's why i took like 1/2 an hour to get it :P was sitting on my balcony just watching the stupid sky flash.... :P

[amaninus]

Originally Posted by lennyl You managed to shoot lightning at 1/20 sec??? Is there an emoticon for kowtow? I'm impressed. You're either very lucky, have killer reflexes, or you're shooting one heck of a thunderstorm. I haven't nailed shooting thunderstorms yet (not many thunderstorms in Northern California, and my current house doesn't have a great view of the sky). Next time I have a chance, I'm going to try shooting the foreground first, then use long exposure and high ISO for the lightning, and blend the two images together.

Dun laugh at me leh,

Guess this is beginner's luck. after shooting the long exposure shot (1st picture), realised that the lightning doesn't seem to be prominent. So I set it at f2.8, iso 800 and exposure -2 with multiple shots in aperture priority mode to give me 1/20s (beyond my control). Then anticipate when will the lightning come (very lucky for this series). I used shutter release for multiple shots before the lightning appear until it disappear (guess ther shld be 5 shots). These are wat I get. But I realised that after setting it at iso 800 and exposure -2, the picture is grainy when i use the raw conversion software or adjust the levels in PS CS2. I tried to play with curves, but guess i m really not good at tat.

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by amaninus Dun laugh at me leh,

I wasn't laughing, sorry it came across that way. Whether luck or skill, I was really surprised. I had enough frustration taking multiple 4 second exposures and ending up with lots of no-lightning shots to delete later (or, even worse, those where the lightning is blocked by other clouds, so you have a bright patch of sky but no clean lightning streaks). You must have given your camera a real workout!

[amaninus]

Originally Posted by lennyl I wasn't laughing, sorry it came across that way.

No problem.

This is my 1st attempt. I realised that at iso 800, my pictures turn out grainy (noise). I'll use iso 400 max in future for low light condition (I always shoot at iso 100).