[Theme] Show Your Lightning Shots!

[Fons Baerken]

This is from 3 yrs ago in Puerto Vallarta, shot from indoors I think we were on the 10th floor, at one of the nicest airbnb I've ever been
Composite of 3 images

Impressive story Birna  !

Great thread and stories!

[Akira]

This is from 3 yrs ago in Puerto Vallarta, shot from indoors I think we were on the 10th floor, at one of the nicest airbnb I've ever been
Composite of 3 images

Thank you, Armando, for sharing your take!  This looks spectacular.  The composite looks interesting, and I may want to try it myself, too!

[Akira]

Today's lightning roughly 150km away from my place.

[Akira]

My latest capture.

[MFloyd]

My very modest contribution, beginning August.


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Nikon D850 + vintage UD Nikkor 20mm f/3.5

[Akira]

My very modest contribution, beginning August.

Nikon D850 + vintage UD Nikkor 20mm f/3.5

It is very tiring just to capture the lightning simply in a frame.  How often do you have thunder roar and lighting in Switzerland?

[Snoogly]

I am deeply impressed by all the images in this theme. Hats off to all the contributors!

My best images of lightning are seared into my brain. Maybe 40 years ago, drifting somewhere on the Zaire river in a dugout canoe. A panoramic vista of storms and lightning. No thought given to the danger of my situation - but also the reality that there was no possible way out :-)

Some of these images bring back that feeling of awe, so keep ‘em coming!

[Akira]

I am deeply impressed by all the images in this theme. Hats off to all the contributors!

My best images of lightning are seared into my brain. Maybe 40 years ago, drifting somewhere on the Zaire river in a dugout canoe. A panoramic vista of storms and lightning. No thought given to the danger of my situation - but also the reality that there was no possible way out :-)

Some of these images bring back that feeling of awe, so keep ‘em coming!

Thank you for the compliment and encouragement.  The view you witnessed on the Zaire river should be spectacular.

[MFloyd]

It is very tiring just to capture the lightning simply in a frame.  How often do you have thunder roar and lighting in Switzerland?

Quite (more) often: I’m living between a big lake and reasonable high mountains. But I’m an absolute beginner. Taken benefit of the summer recess in the racing car competition season. Just 60 minutes spray and pray in the hope to catch one (1) lightning i.e. it was daylight so to lengthen the maximum exposure time: ISO 32; f/22; polarizer used as ND filter; 3s exposure; and putting interval timer at 4s for an hour.

[Akira]

Quite (more) often: I’m living between a big lake and reasonable high mountains. But I’m an absolute beginner. Taken benefit of the summer recess in the racing car competition season. Just 60 minutes spray and pray in the hope to catch one (1) lightning i.e. it was daylight so to lengthen the maximum exposure time: ISO 32; f/22; polarizer used as ND filter; 3s exposure; and putting interval timer at 4s for an hour.

Thank you for the details of your natural environment and technical data.  So, you seem to have quite a few opportunities to shoot lightnings, so long as you can spare time for that.  I haven't thought about the use of the interval timer.     A good idea and point!  I typically set the camera to expose for 30 sec. and the lens to f11.  I recently bought an ND64 filter for the shooting lightnings during the daytime.

[MFloyd]

Hi Akira. My “ inventiveness” comes from the fact that I don’t possess ND filters  I also looked up the average duration of a lightning which appears to be around 0.2s with the longest noted at 7.74s.

[Akira]

Hi Akira. My “ inventiveness” comes from the fact that I don’t possess ND filters  I also looked up the average duration of a lightning which appears to be around 0.2s with the longest noted at 7.74s.

Christian, yes, I understood your trick. 

What do you mean by "duration"?  Do you mean the interval between the flash of the lightning and the thunder roar you hear?

By the way, there is an interesting camera accessory that help capturing lightnings:

http://mkcontrols.com/lightningbug/

The explanation of the way it works is interesting.

[MFloyd]

Christian, yes, I understood your trick. 

What do you mean by "duration"?  Do you mean the interval between the flash of the lightning and the thunder roar you hear?

By the way, there is an interesting camera accessory that help capturing lightnings:

http://mkcontrols.com/lightningbug/

The explanation of the way it works is interesting.

Duration: the time the lightning lasts.

Interesting. Will read through. But for the time being, I will use my (cheap) method, which is not too volume consuming too ie 20 images per minute (every 3 seconds by reducing the interval too zero) or 1200 images to cover one (1) hour.

[Akira]

Duration: the time the lightning lasts.

Interesting. Will read through. But for the time being, I will use my (cheap) method, which is not too volume consuming too ie 20 images per minute (every 3 seconds by reducing the interval too zero) or 1200 images to cover one (1) hour.

The lightning lasting as long as 7.74sec is unbelievable, as the lightning observed in here in Tokyo only flash sporadically.  Hence 30sec. exposure for each frame.

I just have been dreaming of the accessory, simply because Sigma fp I'm using now doesn't have any hotshoe to mount it.  LOL  Also, the 30sec. exposure method works quite satisfactorily to me.

[MFloyd]

Apparently this record of 7.74s (France, 30 August 2021) has been surpassed by one in the north of Argentina (4 March 2019) of 16.73s !