STORMSCAPES

Reply to Tips for daytime lightning?

nobody@flickr.com (Greg R Campbell) — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:03:33 -0700

AFAIK, there is no magic bullet. A 35mm cinematic movie camera would work really well, but feeding it would get a tad expensive. ;)

Insane ND filters or extreme apertures work, but greatly reduce the lightning's intensity. (Wimpy!)

Lightning triggers often (but not always!) miss the branching leaders, leaving 'pencil lightning.' (Wimpy!)

Setting something like F-13 (a compromise between shutter time and lightning brightness) and machine-gunning like Rambo can work, at the expense of wear and tear and a bazillion images to sort through. Shooting jpg can reduce write time and increase your sustained FPS (and thus increase the open shutter duty cycle.)

Reply to Tips for daytime lightning?

nobody@flickr.com (Bryce Bradford) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:51:03 -0700

Bryce Bradford posted a reply:

A trigger is definitely the way to go
Long exposures for lightning in the daytime get reeeeally tricky as the background light will quickly overwhelm the bolt, making it blend in and therefore not show up.

You'll want to shoot with a wide-ish aperture as lightning tends to behave to a camera the same way that strobes do - shutter speed doesn't do much to affect the brightness, it's all up to aperture and ISO.
An ND filter will act the same as stopping down the aperture, which isn't so favorable.

The best thing you can do without a trigger is aim for the absolute darkest portion of the storm to be your backdrop - as there will be less background light to overwhelm the bolt if it comes.

Otherwise, trigger it or try for sheer luck with a burst using shutter speeds below 1/100.

Reply to Tips for daytime lightning?

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:14:23 -0700

Matt Granz Photography posted a reply:

I'm sure someone else will have a better answer, but I'll still give mine…

;)

A lightning trigger works great. It is the best tool for catching the action. Here's a link:

www.lightningtrigger.com

The other solution might be to use a hard 10 stop ND filter which would allow the shutter to stay open for 15-30 seconds in the right settings. The only trouble with this solution is that many times lightning storms are accompanied by winds, and so anything that could get moved by wind, or otherwise within that span of time will show up as blurred.

I hope this helps!

~M@

Tips for daytime lightning?

nobody@flickr.com (MacDonald_Photo) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:35:59 -0700

MacDonald_Photo posted a new topic:

Pretty straight forward question I guess.

Do any of you have tips for catching C2G lighting during daylight hours?
I have seen a few shots in here and just sat in front of my monitor wondering how on earth?!!?

Thanks for any advice!!

Jamie

Reply to Your Favorite Storm Images

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:12:33 -0800

Matt Granz Photography posted a reply:

Reply to Your Favorite Storm Images

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:11:53 -0800

Matt Granz Photography posted a reply:

A Utah Ground Scraper

Reply to Your Favorite Storm Images

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:08:17 -0800

Matt Granz Photography posted a reply:

Sometimes beginners' luck is all the luck you need...

Reply to Your Favorite Storm Images

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:47:41 -0700

Matt Granz Photography posted a reply:

Sometimes it just comes down to plain old amazing storm intensity...

Reply to Thanks Everyone!

nobody@flickr.com (A Cris) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:10:06 -0700

A Cris posted a reply:

hi Matt
thanks for your invitation, it's really a pleasure to have one of my pictures in this group. Really amazing shots! Good job Matt.

Reply to Thanks Everyone!

nobody@flickr.com (silverbox2: Willow Is Purring) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:37:27 -0700

silverbox2: Willow Is Purring posted a reply:

Many Furry Thanks and Purrs for the invitation. In parts of eastern Ontario we have been rather bereft of fabulous storm clouds over the past few years...sadly few impressive thunderstorms...they seem to pass this area by and head off elsewhere. Am pleased when some real clouds come along as I enjoy a good thunderstorm. Used to be terrified of them when a child but now I hop in the car and look for some excitement.