Lightning strikes near the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver during the second thunderstorm of the year.
I've set up to try and capture this every time there's been a thunderstorm since I've been living here (which isn't very often -- Vancouver is not very prone to thunderstorms, which is a good thing from a non-photographic point of view!)
I had to go out tonight, so I had to set the camera up and leave it running. I got back to a flat battery (as I expected) and 2,500 photos to go through. This was one of them.
I'm a British software developer and photographer living in Vancouver, BC. I mainly photograph landscapes, cityscapes, night scenes, and water.
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Very nice triple catch. I'm in Seattle and we're currently under the storm also. I'm curious as to how you left your camera running? I'd love to try and capture some also!
@attraversi Thanks! It was still quite light when I had to go out, and I wanted a reasonably long shutter speed, both for memory card (and shutter lifetime!) reasons, and because the more shots you take, the more time the camera is cycling and not catching any potential strikes.
I set the camera up in aperture priority mode at f/22, ISO 100. The low ISO and narrow aperture allowed me to start at a shutter speed of about 1.5 seconds, and the aperture priority mode would cause the shutter speed to automatically increase as it got darker.
Lightning is bright enough that even at these settings, it will still show up as pure white.
I then switched the camera into high-speed continuous shooting mode, plugged in my remote release, and locked the shutter open. The camera will then continue to take photos until either the memory card is full, or the battery is empty.
Thank you for the detailed play-by-play Alexis! Shortly after I commented on your photo I ran outside (still underneath a covered balcony) and set up my camera to try and get a few shots. I don't have a remote release so I set up my Rebel to continuous shooting for the most it would do - 10 exposures. Is it too dark now (1am) to chance a good shot? Even with the long exposure?
@attraversi It depends on what you want to capture. If you just want to capture the lightning itself, it's never too dark for that -- this is a shot I took a few years ago in completely dark conditions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abirkill/355919751/
If you want to capture the surrounding environment, it may be too dark to easily do that, but capturing lightning is hard enough without waiting for the ambient light to be at the right level too!
Remember that exposure length doesn't directly alter how bright the lightning will be (lightning only lasts for a few thousandths of a second, so as long as the shutter is open when it strikes, then it will be just as bright if you use a 1/100th second exposure or a 30 second exposure). Longer exposures will increase the chance of capturing a strike though, and will also affect the brightness of anything lit by ambient light (street lights, traffic, etc).
If I was shooting now, I'd be using somewhere in the region of ISO 100, f/11, 30 seconds. Good luck!
Very cool, I did not know that you could do that with the shutter release and continuous shooting. I may have to try it and see if my camera will do it also.
@humphreyhippo Or a light trigger! Not sure I'd have been comfortable plugging my camera into the wall during a thunderstorm -- I've already written one off this year! ;)
I ran back out there with those settings but surrendered to the cold.. LOL but I'm putting your great advice in my back pocket and will definitely use it for the next storm. Thanks again Alexis!!
I set the camera up in aperture priority mode at f/22, ISO 100. The low ISO and narrow aperture allowed me to start at a shutter speed of about 1.5 seconds, and the aperture priority mode would cause the shutter speed to automatically increase as it got darker.
Lightning is bright enough that even at these settings, it will still show up as pure white.
I then switched the camera into high-speed continuous shooting mode, plugged in my remote release, and locked the shutter open. The camera will then continue to take photos until either the memory card is full, or the battery is empty.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abirkill/355919751/
If you want to capture the surrounding environment, it may be too dark to easily do that, but capturing lightning is hard enough without waiting for the ambient light to be at the right level too!
Remember that exposure length doesn't directly alter how bright the lightning will be (lightning only lasts for a few thousandths of a second, so as long as the shutter is open when it strikes, then it will be just as bright if you use a 1/100th second exposure or a 30 second exposure). Longer exposures will increase the chance of capturing a strike though, and will also affect the brightness of anything lit by ambient light (street lights, traffic, etc).
If I was shooting now, I'd be using somewhere in the region of ISO 100, f/11, 30 seconds. Good luck!
You need a power supply for that camera. ;)