Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery Lightning

This was taken from my upstairs computer room. This kind of photography is what I have a lot of fun with... when we actually get nocturnal storms. The last two years was very sparse, but this year has been a lot better.

Cool!

If you use your imagination you can see a mans face with the lightning coming out of his face.

Wow is that beautiful! Must be a pretty high quality camera to capture an image like that? I've always wanted to do this and we get plenty of storms in NE to provide opportunities. Tell me how I can try?

I really like it. Good job. It would make a beautiful poster.

I have some other nice ones, especially on the night my mother passed away this spring.

You don't really need a high-end camera to do this, the only real requirement is the ability to hold the shutter open manually until you see a strike. Otherwise a good camera helps, like the ability to force the ISO, aperture, and manually focus accurately to infinity.

The most annoying part of lightning photography is sort of like fishing. While you are waiting for the dark-frame time between pictures, the best strikes seem to occur. Otherwise you are pointing at one place, and good stuff happens elsewhere.

I use a Panasonic GH2 right now. It is small, and a good compromise on size and image quality. It also takes great video. The hardest part for this type of photography is the manual focus issue, and it is a bear on contrast detect cameras (all but dSLRs with mirrors). The only way to tell you have accurate focus is to manually adjust on a distant light source. In my case I use the solar dock lights which are about 1000 feet distant.

Liquidsquid it is strange how this picture taking can sneak up on you and kinda become a hobby. I first bought a decent DMC-FZ5PP Panasonic to reach out long distances for photographing wild life while kayaking. I thought I broke this camera (but didn't) and to replace it I bought a low end Cannon PowerShot ELPH 120 IS that is about the size of a credit card that I can carry with me while I walk the pond and take pictures. Once in a while I get a picture that wasn't intended but was a little more then I expected. That's what makes it fun. Here is a picture setting that was accidental in my pond spatterdock.