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Conundrum

Lightning Photography

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.

Gone fishing

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



Rebel XTi with the kit lens (!!) :D

ISO 100
39mm
f/5.6
13.0 sec
tripod, hand released shutter

Caught this with the 16th take. Got some others with single bolts and smaller activity. :)

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



easy fix. use the timer, like when you take a picture of the family but have to run to get into it. when the camera goes off you wont actually be touching it.
"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



Rebel XTi with the kit lens (!!) :D

ISO 100
39mm
f/5.6
13.0 sec
tripod, hand released shutter

Caught this with the 16th take. Got some others with single bolts and smaller activity. :)


that is a good camera, but a camera is only as good as the lens. i would budget and get a decent lens.

i took all these photos with a rebel xti
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31891709@N04/sets/72157608480703372/
"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



easy fix. use the timer, like when you take a picture of the family but have to run to get into it. when the camera goes off you wont actually be touching it.


So... are you going to tell us how you get the lightning to pose for that pic? :)

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



easy fix. use the timer, like when you take a picture of the family but have to run to get into it. when the camera goes off you wont actually be touching it.


So... are you going to tell us how you get the lightning to pose for that pic? :)


your reflexes and the camera aren't fast enough to wait till the lighting is there before you snap the shutter. you have to use a long exposure (the shutter is open for a long amount of time) and hope that you get some cool bolts. it is the same principle even if you use a cable release.
"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



easy fix. use the timer, like when you take a picture of the family but have to run to get into it. when the camera goes off you wont actually be touching it.


So... are you going to tell us how you get the lightning to pose for that pic? :)


your reflexes and the camera aren't fast enough to wait till the lighting is there before you snap the shutter. you have to use a long exposure (the shutter is open for a long amount of time) and hope that you get some cool bolts. it is the same principle even if you use a cable release.


I'll never make it as a comedian.:P

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camera on a tripod
long exposure
lens cap
once the lighting hits, cap the lens and close the shutter

works well if it's extremely dark :)



Another method for when it's fairly dark is to use the auto mode (apeture priority). It lets the camera choose the shutter speed. The shutter will stay open until the camera has "seen" enough light to make the exposure.
A good lightning strike will give enough light to "finish" the shot and close the shutter.
At worst you end up with a long exposure shot of an impressive storm cloud.

I have some pretty cool shots on 35mm film from when I was taking pics more seriously than I do today.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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Another method for when it's fairly dark is to use the auto mode (apeture priority). It lets the camera choose the shutter speed. The shutter will stay open until the camera has "seen" enough light to make the exposure.
A good lightning strike will give enough light to "finish" the shot and close the shutter.
At worst you end up with a long exposure shot of an impressive storm cloud.



I was wondering whether something like that could be done. Presumably it'd also be possible to rig some kind of photo-sensitive shutter release so that the lightning flash would start the exposure.

A system like that would presumably be fast enough - certainly much quicker than human reaction time. The benefit of having the flash trigger the shutter would be that you could still explicitly set the exposure time.

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Another method for when it's fairly dark is to use the auto mode (apeture priority). It lets the camera choose the shutter speed. The shutter will stay open until the camera has "seen" enough light to make the exposure.
A good lightning strike will give enough light to "finish" the shot and close the shutter.
At worst you end up with a long exposure shot of an impressive storm cloud.



I was wondering whether something like that could be done. Presumably it'd also be possible to rig some kind of photo-sensitive shutter release so that the lightning flash would start the exposure.

A system like that would presumably be fast enough - certainly much quicker than human reaction time. The benefit of having the flash trigger the shutter would be that you could still explicitly set the exposure time.



I guess that you could. I never had aything more than a camera, tripod and cable release.

I got a few nice "multi" shots by leaving the shutter open (bulb) and triggering the flash multiple times on a moving subject. Nothing worth publishing, but kinda cool.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



Rebel XTi with the kit lens (!!) :D

ISO 100
39mm
f/5.6
13.0 sec
tripod, hand released shutter

Caught this with the 16th take. Got some others with single bolts and smaller activity. :)


that is a good camera, but a camera is only as good as the lens. i would budget and get a decent lens.

i took all these photos with a rebel xti
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31891709@N04/sets/72157608480703372/


Eh, not really, it's an entry level SLR. A $2,000 lens on a Rebel is not going to perform as well as the same lens on a professional body,

I'll be upgrading to the 5D very soon.

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Nice photo, Care to share some details, like
camera, lens, speed, F stop, iso.

I tried to take photos of lightning but my camera dosen't have
a cable release, so even when mounted on a tripod I get a little vibration
when releasing the shutter.



Rebel XTi with the kit lens (!!) :D

ISO 100
39mm
f/5.6
13.0 sec
tripod, hand released shutter

Caught this with the 16th take. Got some others with single bolts and smaller activity. :)


that is a good camera, but a camera is only as good as the lens. i would budget and get a decent lens.

i took all these photos with a rebel xti
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31891709@N04/sets/72157608480703372/


Eh, not really, it's an entry level SLR. A $2,000 lens on a Rebel is not going to perform as well as the same lens on a professional body,

I'll be upgrading to the 5D very soon.


it is true that it is the cheapest slr you can use for high end photography.

a $2000 dollar lens will still make a huge difference. the only difference is that the sensor in a xti is not a full sized 35mm sensor.

so unless you are going to be printing poster size prints (which usually is not the case), you can pretty much use an xti for anything you need.
"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

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