Lightning

[Michael_2010]

Tonight strong storms are supposed to be moving in my direction out of the west. Are there any short tutorials or instructions on how to best capture lightning here on DPS? I've tried a couple of times in the past and it has never worked out for me. I need something pretty simple and straight forward for now.

ISO: ???

Aperture: ?/?

Any filters needed?

[ravncat]

Lightning is actually pretty easy to capture, but hard to compose with.

-The Basic Technique-

The basic things you'll need - a tripod and a cable release of some kind. (if you don`t have a cable release see below)

How to do it, Frame the scene in which you wish to capture lightening and covers a general area of where you expect lightning might strike.Simply use Bulb mode - click the shutter to start the picture and then click again to end the picture after the lightning has struck.

extra info - Cable Releases and Exposure

Some cable releases have different modes, you may have to hold your shutter down continuously. With my nikon and cable release, I have an option for click once to start exposure, click again to end exposure - read your cable manual.

If you don`t have a cable release - then use shutter priority, and dial in the longest shutterspeed possible. (probably 30 seconds) - you`ll want to keep shooting until you get an exposure in which lightning flashed. A good starting point might be F8 and iso 100. (depends alot on the level of light in the background world, how far the lightning is from you and how bright the flash is)

You can use your camera as a guide - go to shutter mode, and set a 30 second exposure - and see what aperture and ISO that gives you. Then you can use math to figure out a longer exposure for your background. The lightning should be bright enough that it won`t matter too much. if it`s 30 seconds at F5.6 at iso 100, then you can do 1 minute at f8 or 2 minutes at f11... This sets your overall background. If you want a dimmer background, go to 1 minute at 5.6 or even 2 minutes at 5.6 You`ll get the hang of it with practice - having the histogram and lcd display will let you tweak - if you get lots of lightning you`ll be getting great balanced exposures after the first few.

Even more info - Lightning vs Background Exposure and Composition

The lightning flash is pretty bright - you can use low or base iso of your camera (Which is probably iso100 or 200) The Iso / Aperture combination is going to affect the exposure of the lightning - and you`re going to use shutter speed to capture it and ultimately set the background exposure.) It`s like using flash and balancing with the existing light really.

You can fine tune things - Larger aperture and higher ISO = brighter lightening. So you can decide what kind of depth of field you want and then find an ISO to balance the brightness of the lightning. Many times, lightning is over exposed. That`s usually ok. Of course, the higher the ISO and the Larger the aperture - the shorter you`ve got for your background exposure. Long exposures are gonna let you get the lightning, so start with a smaller aperture and a low ISO. If you have a meter and can meter for long exposures - try exposures in the 1-5 minute range (depends on how much lightning there is in the storm)

Think of it this way, it`s two exposures happening at the same time, the lightning and the background. - the brightness of the lightning happens in a very short time - while the rest of the background is got small amounts of light coming in during the time you keep the exposure going - so the longer your exposure, the brighter the background, the bigger the aperture the brighter the lightning. Sometimes you may want to continue the exposure after the lightning strike, to ensure the background isn`t totally dark.

Finally - It`s really hard to choose where the lightning should be, if you want to think about composition with the bolt, you should think in terms of wide, medium or close - and use a wide, normal or telephoto lens - It`s easier to capture with a wide lens, but you have less control over where it will be in the frame. If there is enough lightning in the storm, you can keep taking the same composition over and over again - and hope that lightning will strike where you want it... that persistence is what you must do if you wish to choose where the lightning will be - that can take lots and lots of patience...

-filter note-

Post Final (filters) - Lightning in the day is hardest - to do lightning when it is bright, try using an (strong) ND filter so that you can do long exposures. Night exposures won`t need a filter.

[Michael_2010]

When you use bulb mode, how do you time it? Do you open the shutter at the first sight of lightning and then close it after a few strikes? Typically, how long can you leave it open before the shot gets way too bright?

[ravncat]

I just wing it (Start the shot and stop it after the lightning strikes)- you can use a stopwatch and the idea of what a good background exposure should be - Like I mentioned - take a look at what aperture a thirty second exposure would give you at iso 100 or 200. (Every time you double your shutter speed you add a stop of light) If you want a good controlled exposure you`ll have to calculate it based on the background exposure. If you shoot raw and post, you can usually get away with things being a might fuzzier.

If your background is dark enough you can leave it open for 10 - 20 minutes or even hours (say against a night sky in the wilderness) If it`s relatively light, you may be limited to 2 or 3 minutes. You can start before the storm and do some long exposures to get an idea of how long you can get away with at different settings. If you have a handheld lightmeter you can calculate much longer exposures more easily (An old Analogue luna-pro will meter down to an 8 hour exposure) The problem is many cameras don`t meter down that far - so you may have to use the 30 second exposure to calculate a longer manual exposure

[Michael_2010]

Thanks for the info. I am all set with ISO 100, f/11, mirror lock-up, manual focus and now I am going to take a few test shots toward the west and then wait for the storm.

[ravncat]

Happy hunting!

[Michael_2010]

Okay, I am going to start with f/8 and focus slightly backed off infinity. I can see the flicker of light far off in the west, so it is on the way. Do you think my standing under a metal flag pole will create any digital noise? lol

Nah, I'm just shooting out my front door tonight to see if I can get the settings right. I will take the available background on this one.

[ravncat]

Sounds like a good plan. You can always adjust on the fly if the storm is long enough - as things may get darker as the storm rolls in. I just realized, that it is kinda like firework photography in a way. Lightning photography is one of those things that you get alot better at by doing it. I am not at home, so sadly, I don`t have any lightning photographs to post at the moment.

Hope you get some good shots - post em!

[Michael_2010]

The lightning never materialized near my location. The front moving in my direction fell apart as it crossed the state line and what remained stayed far out over the gulf. Thanks for the tips though and I will give it another shot next time we have some night time storms.