Lightning storm just went through

Hi guys, summer time here means great storms in the arvos and I went out to get some tonight. My best effort so far. Just wish I had a wider lens to play with. And one that didn't make my horizons look like roller coasters......

I'm having a little difficulty playing with WB for lighning, any tips on getting it looking as they should?

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One heck of a storm ! Nice shots !

wow, awesome shots, how do you get the timing on those?

Excellent work pixelbasher! Ahhh, severe weather season, gotta love it!! Can you elaborate on how you think they should look or what may be missing b/c I think they are pretty good?

At 17mm, #3 had to of been of a little to close, but I say that out of envy as I would of loved to of been there for that! On that one, opening up the aperture up to about F8 or F10 may have made those 2 strikes much more vivid, but while also preserving the detail. I suspect the faster shutter may work against you for timing though. For daytime lightning, have you considered a lightning trigger? I know a couple of people that use one and swear by it.

For the others, great location! I really like #2 and #5. Love how the lightning casts light on the water below, and the there is just enough horizon to put things in perspective. I might suggest though not being tempted to open up the aperture to far, definitely not more than what you already have, and maybe stopping down a touch. If you open up to far, you risk getting the lightning strikes blown out.

ct1co2 wrote in post #9051106
Excellent work pixelbasher! Ahhh, severe weather season, gotta love it!! Can you elaborate on how you think they should look or what may be missing b/c I think they are pretty good?

At 17mm, #3 had to of been of a little to close, but I say that out of envy as I would of loved to of been there for that! On that one, opening up the aperture up to about F8 or F10 may have made those 2 strikes much more vivid, but while also preserving the detail. I suspect the faster shutter may work against you for timing though. For daytime lightning, have you considered a lightning trigger? I know a couple of people that use one and swear by it.

For the others, great location! I really like #2 and #5. Love how the lightning casts light on the water below, and the there is just enough horizon to put things in perspective. I might suggest though not being tempted to open up the aperture to far, definitely not more than what you already have, and maybe stopping down a touch. If you open up to far, you risk getting the lightning strikes blown out.

Thanks so much for the tips ct1co2, I am still very new to this type of shooting, but we should have plenty more chances over summer to practice. The horizon line was tricky, as I wanted to get as much sky, but show enough land for reference. Sounds like I got it close then. I was worried I didn't have enough. BTW, those lights over to the right side are all coal ships moored offshore, as Newcastle has a huge coal export industry. There can be up to 70 ships offshore waiting for their fill of some of the worlds best and cleanest (if that's possible) black coal.

As far as the WB thing goes, I played with the balance and RGB of #1 and #5 to make them like it is. I basically removed all the purple from it (or that was my plan) I think it's more accurate? I certainly didn't see any purple on the night. There was some green though!
Most my other shots were like the rest with the purple tint, which are all out of the camera as far as WB goes. I don't mind the purple as such, although it can be a bit overpowering, but I'm more curious on how others normally work out the correct color adjustments. I normally leave it on AWB and play with it in DPP, but what do most set theirs too for this type of shot?

Yep, number 3 was close! I guessed a reference with google earth and calced it to be less than 1KM away, . The headland is 1.2 KM away from my spot. I did crop that image by about 50% as it was off to the right edge of the original frame. I have never seen a bolt hit water before, let alone shot one, and I get two in the one shot! And to think there was a guy water skiing about 5 minutes before right out front of that shot!

Funny thing is (or maybe worrying) after that shot was taken I got out of there as the rain was coming in and when I got back in the car I noticed the cam was locked up. Even turning the camera off did nothing, stuck with the preview image. I had to pull the batts to reset it. It was fine after that. Maybe a coincidence, but I'm wondering if it was some sort of electro nasties? The camera worked fine after that, and I reckon I had closer bolts than that during the night.....who knows?
Thanks for the link to the trigger, sounds like a handy bit of gear!

TheBigDog wrote in post #9050891
wow, awesome shots, how do you get the timing on those?

The timing on these were quite easy, I just did long exposures and as it was a very wild show, more often than not, one came across the field of view. Still, I really want the whole branch, not just sections of it. But having said that, some were so wide across the sky, only a 180* fisheye would have picked the whole web.

Celestron wrote in post #9050179
One heck of a storm ! Nice shots !

Thanks Celestron, it was one wild storm alright! It started about 5 PM and went to about 9 or so. I also found a new spot to practice my star scapes. I'm sick of being so limited in my backyard. This spot looks good. They are looking North in these night shots, but of course I can turn 180 and still have a good view of the southern night sky

TheBigDog wrote in post #9050891
wow, awesome shots, how do you get the timing on those?

That question always cracks me up.

#3 is amazing. its very captivating for me. ive been staring at it for the past 5min. excellent captures! this one especially. thank you

Cracking series well captured.

Indeed

Wow. Those are great!

reading it again, I failed to pickup the first time that you were shooting these at night...
what can I say, I'm polish!

I did shoot #3 in the late afternoon, (into the sun) but "cheated" a little by fitting an 8 stop ND filter and a polariser. It was a 5 second exposure at F-20 ISO 100. I could see the action was in this area, so I just pointed it that way and kept firing shots.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying them!

It's just gone nightfall but no action in the sky tonight. I'd like to head back out tonight and try some stars from the same spot if those pesky clouds clear out a bit more

Here's one more I got fom last night. I thought I originally posted it

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ooohh, ths last one is my favorite!!

Those are all incredible! Thank you for sharing them.

Very nice - well done