Lightning Images

[JeffColburn]

Here are a couple of images from a recent storm.

Have Fun,
Jeff

[wolfnowl]

Nice catch!  Amazing what a little static can do...

Mike.

[francois]

I like them both but the second one is my favorite.
Bravo, Jeff!

[Roger Calixto]

Nice shots!! I like the look of the lightning more in the first. It look smore caotic!
What were your exposure times?
 Did you have to do a lot of post processing?

[JeffColburn]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you like them.

Roger, whenever I shoot lightning I use the same settings: Tripod, 30 seconds, f8, ISO 100, 18-55 mm (the above where shot at 35 mm), and focus on infinity. The above images are uncropped, and I only did a little PP with the RAW image (sharpening, minor contrast and brightness). It was a great storm in that I found a perfect place to park and set up everything, and the storm just sat there. It barely moved for the hour I was shooting.

My problem is focusing. I live in a rural area that's pretty flat and has no city lights (the lights were behind me on this shoot), so I don't have anything to focus on. I set the lens to what I believe is infinity, wait for the first lightning bolt, look at the image on the display on the back of my camera (at maximum zoom) and see if it looks in focus. About half the time it looks it focus, but isn't. I'm still working the bugs out.

Have Fun,
Jeff

[Roger Calixto]

Hey Jeff, thanks ofr the reply.
When I used to shoot aurora borealis in Canada I had the same problem. Then I came across a post somewhere about finding the infinity focal point on your lens (during the day of course) and marking it with a dot since it rarely is actually at the end of the focal range. This worked great for me because at night I only had to align the 2 dots in MF and got sharp images.

Hope that helps!

[JeffColburn]

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks.

Have Fun,
Jeff

[nigelrudyard]

Awesome, Jeff. The second image is really evocative of the power and the glory ...

[JeffColburn]

Thanks nigelrudyard.

Have Fun,
Jeff