Huge lightbulb over megalopolis

[Akira]

We had a huge Cumulonimbus incus in the north of Tokyo.

At first, I had shot a three-stitch pano and a vertical frame just to represent the beautiful shape of the clouds.

EDIT: Changed the somewhat enigmatic title (though there was a good reason for that).

[Akira]

Then I found a spark of lightning inside the cloud (2nd image).  Expecting multiple lightnings, I decided to shoot video so that I can extract frames that capture critical moments.  And here are some results.

[Akira]

Second set.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Impressive, very nice shots.

[Anthony]

Spectacular, and perhaps a little scary!

[Bruno Schroder]

Spectacular shots indeed.

[pluton]

Fascinating series of shots, despite the narrow exposure latitude of the video.  Thanks for posting these.

[Lorne]

Lightening has always fascinated me but we seldom experience it here in Victoria. Let alone in a massive storm like this one. Thanks for sharing.

[Randy Stout]

Akira:

Dramatic lighting shots.

Can you elaborate a bit on your camera details and settings?

Cheers

Randy

[Akira]

Thank you, guys, for kind comments.

Cumulonimbus was far enough from my place, so I didn't hear any roar of the thunder.

All images were shot with my trusty D750 and AF-S 50/1.8G.

I had no intention of shooting a 20-minute video from which the lightning images were extracted.  Fortunately, my camera seems to have been set appropriately for this situation: 1080p/24, and the Movie Quality was set to "HIGH".  It was right after the sunset, but the ISO was automatically adjusted from around 1600 to 5000 by the camera, following the darkening situation.      The aperture was set wide open, for whatever reason.

The still images of the lightening was extracted in iMovie on my humble early 2015 MacBook Air.  The extracted JPEG images were not retouched in any way.

If I knew I was going to shoot video, I definitely would have used a tripod.  Holding the camera as still as possible for 20 minutes was a pain, but it turned out to be worthwhile.

The dynamic range of the sensor in D750 seemed to have helped to some extent, even in video mode.

[Akira]

Today, we had a severe thunder storm in my area.  It was like an air raid.  I guess a similar cumulonimbus was above us.   

[Erik Lund]

Truly spectacular images, very photogenic and cooperative clouds you have

[John Geerts]

Wow, dramatic and spectacular Shots, Akira.  Never seen these before with such an energy! 

[tommiejeep]

Akira, super images and very quick thinking  .  I have a Mosque across the valley and keep trying to catch it lit up by a thunder storm with no luck (or skill on my part).  I will give video a shot.  Only problems is best view is from my terrace on top of the house so would need to set up some sort of a shelter.  November is normally a good month for huge thunder storms  .
Many thank for posting and giving me something to think about.
Tom

[simato73]

I love those forked lightnings, pity it is a grab from movie.
In the absence of a lightning trigger, next time you could try the following (it worked for me in a much less spectacular settings):

Base ISO
As high f/number as you dare (think diffraction)
As long time as you can.
You can also add a ND to further increase exposure time (I don't like ND's, they are seldom truly neutral in cast)

Put it on an intervalometer or something similar and let it go.
You will have a lot of useless shots, but you can delete those, and occasionally a good one - shot at base ISO so you have the widest latitude for post-processing