Lightning

[dhomoney]

Originally Posted by isaiahsdad

My favorite one taken a few years ago. I call it "The Demon In The Sky" If you look close, you can see his arms and hands in the lightning, his face and cape flowing in the clouds. Just the right place, at the right time.

I just stole this for my desktop background. :)

[barrynfla]

Great pics! But lightning still scares the crap out of me when I'm riding........and we get a LOT of it around the Tampa Bay area. There's lightning hitting around here as I'm typing.

[isaiahsdad]

I have to set the f stop at f5, so the foreground is not so bright, and the speed at about 3 seconds to catch the lightning. It is not easy. The hit miss ratio is great in Oklahoma because we have such great lightning storms with a vast number of hits. If you are good, about one out of six in a good storm and about one out of twenty will actually be good well lit large strikes. I have shot quite a few thousand shots of lightning with maybe fifty worth keeping in my collection. The ones I posted I took with a D80, Nikkor 28-70 2.8 Lens, set at wide angle, f5.0 400ISO at 3 seconds. Not a high dollar rig so I am not so worried about a bit of rain getting on it. I have a 70-300 f4.5 but I only use that when the storms are very far away and then you increase your ratio to about 100 to 1. Take your time, watch your surroundings and stay ahead of the storm. Once the storm hits you, it is too late. You usually have about a 15 to 30 minute window if you are lucky. My next favorite subject and just as equally difficult is hummers. Lighting, timing, focus, zoom, settings, all have to be perfect. This is my favorite one I took about 7 years ago. I have a few hundred pics of hummers as well. The harder it is to shoot, the more I like it. And with digital, all it costs is electricity to keep the batteries charged (after the cost of the camera). Good luck and most of all, have fun.




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[dantama]

Ok, I can see it is very difficult and takes more expertise than I have. Either one happens in that 3 seconds or it doesn't huh?

Even though I've always loved pictures of city skylines with lightning, and I've a got a great place with a view of the Denver skyline, I think it's beyond me.

Thanks for the explanation though, it makes me appreciate your shot all the more. Nice bird shot too. My wife will love it.

[dhomoney]

Originally Posted by "CHAINSAW"

You and Dan Lund need to get together.

Yeah but can you imagine how ugly their children would be? I shudder at the thought......

[dantama]

Originally Posted by dhomoney

Yeah but can you imagine how ugly their children would be? I shudder at the thought......

That was good :)

I didn't even see it coming when I read the post.

[dhomoney]

Sadly Dan, that is the first thing that popped into this sick and twisted mind I have. :)

[isaiahsdad]

That was good.