Andy,
Incredible image !!! how did you manage to capture it ?
Thanks Armando, Jakov, Anthony, Lowell.
As we should not discuss the Brexit topic, I'd like to share my approach to capturing lighting.
Actually, it is quite simple. Don't be afraid of the detailed list below.
I tried to remember all steps for those who want to try for themselves.
All you need is:
1) bad weather, with some lightings striking around you
2) any camera with a remote control
3) any lens appropriate for the focal range. Turn VR off
4) a tripod and a remote control
5) mount all things together on the place you want to capture the weather
6) Set AF to infinity and turn AF off (or to MF). You might want to use distant objects like stars, street lights as proxy
7) Set the camera to "bulb"
8 ) For aperture, it depends a bit how bright the lighting is. Use any reasonable value (usually between f4 and f8). Check exposure after the first attempts and adjust appropriately
9) Keep the camera at ISO 100
10) Depending on the ambient light and the backdrop of the lighting area, your max open shutter time is somewhere between 1s and 15s. (The max time should be selected that, when there is no lightning, the frame should still be reasonable dark). If you want to capture lighting with some objects in the background like a city skyline, play around this value
11) Take a chair, sit down and relax
12) Press the remote and keep it open until either there is a nice lighting on the frame, or you reached your max shutter time. If max shutter time is reached, close the shutter and start immediately the next one to minimize the risk that you loose too much of the action. (lightings usually come when the shutter is not open
)
13) You can also keep the shutter open long enough to capture multiple lightings in one frame.
14) Enjoy the action
15) Enjoy the results
The image above was one out of 20 frames I took over the course of a few minutes. Then I went back to bed.
3 were "successful", with the nicest shown above.
Data on this one: 2.2sec, ISO 100, f4, VR=off
cheers,
Andy
Denver airport. No tripod available. Just used a garbage bin as ad-hoc replacement
