⚡ Lightning Photography ~ A Little Too Close
Last summer we had some wicked storms roll through our area over the course of a few days. After witnessing the incredible show Mother Nature put on for us the first night, and not having a camera available to take pictures, when the storms fired up on night two I decided i had to attempt to photograph the lightning.
This was actually the first time I ever tried to capture lightning, so I was trying to find the right settings as I was taking the pictures. The most intense part of the storm lasted about 20 minutes. Apparently I had more than one close call fate that night.
Intensifying Storms
These first two images are looking South from the front of our house as the storm was building in and intensifying. The bolts seemed to "crawl" across the sky in slow motion lasting 2 or 3 seconds. The kind of thing you see captured by storm chaser on The Weather Channel. Obviously my photos are slightly less professional. LOL
I moved back and forth from the front windows to the back windows as the different storm cells produced lighting in different areas of the sky.
Too Close for Comfort
As the show went on I slowly dialed in on the correct settings to capture the high contrast bolts with more clarity and less grain in the image. I also captured something that should have been a HUGE WARNING if I had noticed it in the display previews after each picture.
In the next picture you will see a faint "step leader" coming down to the roof of the house behind us. If that had connected and closed the sky-to-ground circuit... that would have been way too close.
And Then It Happened
As I waited with my finger on the shutter release, the hair on my arms stood up with a static charge. I instantly thought "Shhhiiiiit!" and quickly pulled back from the window and dropped down to the floor. BAM!!!!! The room lit up light daytime and the house shook with the thunderous boom that followed the ear-splitting crack of the initial bolt hitting just outside.
I'm not sure exactly where it hit, in front, in the back, or the house itself, but I decided to call it quits for the night after that.
I went to my computer to move the images over from the camera's SD card and discovered this image as the last photo I took that night. This was the photo taken as I accidentally pressed the button in my dive to the floor.
That step leader is in front of the palm fronds, that palm is only 9 feet from the house, the fronds reach out to be only 3 feet from our back window.
So did I learn anything from this. Sure I did... Lightning is Awesome!
Will I do it again this Summer if the storms put on a show... You Know It!
This year I will be better prepared to get higher quality photos.
Let me know what you think, please leave your comments below.
As always, please upvote this post and follow me if you like my work and want to see more.
If you think others will enjoy this
Please ReSteem it!
Thanks for reading!
I really gotta get myself a camera already goddamnit! All these Steemit-photographies are blue-balling my intrinsic desire to be a photographer. Goddamnit...
There is nothing beautiful than nature
wowowowow man how can you capture this photo??
its need to perfeact timeing click i love this photography ....i am also a photographer i love to this type adventure click thanks for shere this amazing hard work love you bro .....@Resteem
It was my first time attempting to capture lighting, so there was a lot of luck involved. I did eventually realize I needed to have the burst capture ON, so at the first glimpse of a flash of light I could hit the button and fire off 10 shots in a row. That did create a lot of camera shake, so I will use a remote trigger next time.
This is incredible! I hardly every see real lightnings...You are lucky you have captured it.
Thank you.
Wow. Awesome pictures. I love storms and the power they bring with them. It's one of natures wonders.
Thanks for sharing. resteemed!
Nice work! the fact that you nailed the timing spot on is an achievement itself! If these were high resolution images they would look absolutely stunning, and also could be use for stock photography! =) looking forward to see more!
Thank you. A lot of luck involved for my first time. Hopefully this Summer I can get better quality images.
Good work mate. Lightning is one of those tricky things to catch, because first you need a lightning storm lol. I found the sure way of capturing lightning is to film it. Although this method lacks high res, it gives me all the frames I can choose from. Then in photoshop I up-res it and make it look more photographic. Follow me and I'll post some of my pics. Cheers.
IMPRESSIVE! I am going to keep at it and hopefully this summer be better prepared to take better photos.
Cheers. I cant wait for another storm. I followed you so I'll keep an eye out.
how u managed to time te shot
Fast shutter speed, and a bit of luck clicking a the first glimpse of the flash of light.
the work you dare to do even if it's risky but your courage pays off with amazing results.
Thank you.
You are welcome . I will wait back your post.
nice post. thank you
I see you like to live dangerously...
How were you able to take those pictures so fast? i mean a lightning is only a few second right?
Fast shutter speed, and a bit of luck clicking a the first glimpse of the flash of light. This type of lighting kinda rolled across the sky and last a bit longer than the normal bolts to the ground. So that helped a bit too.