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We've just had quite a large hail storm come through the north of Brisbane, and with it a lot of lightning. No hail pics as I was too busy sorting out the hail.. but here's a lightning shot to add to my collection



The white specs are hail which spoilt the shot unfortunately.

Handheld.
1/160sec
f/25
50mm
iso 200
-5 EV step.

At some stage I might buy some ND filters so that daylight lightning shots have some scenery in them

cheers

Mark... if I had a bow down icon, I'd throw on in here :bow: this is a rippa shot, the sheer power and energy in this bolt... it's mind boggling.

Wow. Great photo Mark. I noticed in the Exif that your shutter speed was 1/160 - that makes this even more remarkable. I always thought lightning shots were best captured with an exposure of over a minute. Proven wrong once again...

thanks guys...

I have to run a noise filter over it as there's a lot of sensor noise which I just noticed... but hey... lightning is always fun

cheers

 BTW Mark, I'm interested in your method of shooting. I know myself and other members have been going for the longer exposures, 4, 8, 10, 15, 20 seconds so we have a better change of catching the lightning...but i see you using 1/60 sec ... are you using an external trigger to make the shutter go off when it senses lightning ?

Excellent Mark. Master lighting shooter. That is a shit hot shot.

Alpha_7 wrote:...but i see you using 1/60 sec ... are you using an external trigger to make the shutter go off when it senses lightning ?

... or multi-frames-per-second burst shooting perhaps?

Alpha_7 wrote:BTW Mark, I'm interested in your method of shooting. I know myself and other members have been going for the longer exposures, 4, 8, 10, 15, 20 seconds so we have a better change of catching the lightning...but i see you using 1/60 sec ... are you using an external trigger to make the shutter go off when it senses lightning ?

i usually only shoot lightning at night... due to not having any ND filters. so for this one it was pot luck and about 300 frames shot for one goodish one. used 1/160th with the terrible aperture and -EV as it was so bright.... was a matter of a hit and miss..

usually i setup on a tripod.... use a remote... set to manual and infinity focal. use a black piece of card and hold it over the lens until i feel that some lightning is going to come... then release the card.... close the shutter... and voila.

you can see more of my lightning shots using this technique in the following folder: http://www.markcrossphotography.com/picpost/lightning/

cheers

Thanks Mark, you have a good collection of lightning shots, and your explaination makes a lot of sense (all my lightning shots so far have been at night, so overexposure hasn't been an issue yet.

Thanks for sharing the technique Mark. I hazard a guess though you won't be bowled over with competition as these shots take a lot of practice no matter what process is used. Well done on a terrific capture - it's definitely worth all the extra shots.

Thanks for the technical explanation Mark.

By the way, for the lightning lovers, there's an excellent gallery of lightning shots here http://www.genesisfineart.com.au/html/gallery.html

sensor noise now fixed.... ahhhh.. that's better

Awesome shot, I can almost feel the energy from that

Wow, what a great shot!
The lightning tonight was spectacular. I had one crack so close there was a smell of burning in the air afterwards.
This shot has all the realism that I felt then!

thanks Trevor...

was an incredible line of storms. we got absolutely hammered with hail, but luckily nothing was damaged.

I would love to be up at redcliffe at the moment as the back of the storm is quite viewable and would make a great shot over the bay. unfortunately i've been biten by the sunday afternoon beer bug

cheers

Thats a cracker Mark! Well done

Wow!! Mark this is a brilliant shot! Whether it took 300 or 3000 attempts you have nailed it here...well done mate!!

totally insane Mark!
what's the story behind the capture?

wendellt wrote:totally insane Mark!
what's the story behind the capture?

Scroll up

thanks guys....

story is in the first post

cheers