Hey Everyone. I know I haven't posted in a while, but I thought I'd share this.
The other night Art convinced me to shoot the fireworks over Elitch Gardens or a possible sunset over the Denver skyline. Well the weather quickly turned to crap and we ended up shooting in the pouring rain in a thunderstorm. Of course I brought proper attire for this occasion - wearing shirt, shorts, and some sandals. Luckily Art had a nice umbrella that kept me and our cameras somewhat less than soaking wet.
So we proceeded to shoot the thunderstorm over the city. This image is probably the best one I caught. A single exposure of 6 seconds shot with an intervalometer. It's a bit soft due to the heavy amount of rain, but shows a nice strike.
Oh almost forgot...at one point I we saw a flash of lightening somewhere...probably above us. And for the duration of the flash I felt and heard electricity arcing from the plastic handle of the umbrella into my hand! I didn't hurt but was a bit startling.
To answer your question Todd, I told René to use the intervalometer as a way to increase the keeper rate for lightening shots. I'm sure it's been done before but I came up with it on my own. Here's how it works. Meter 1 stop lower than the scene exposure and get a decent time length of 5-10 sec for the exposure. (The lower exposure is to make up for the bright bolt) Whatever that time frame is enter that for your long exposure setting on the remote. Then set your interval shot @ 1 sec. Voila!! Your shutter's almost always open and should capture lightening strikes automatically.
Another plus for this is that you don't have to shoot at high apertures which can lead to lower resolution quality.
Warning-it does fill up cards quickly and there are other drawbacks as you can imagine but we didn't miss a lightening strike. (Except when chimping!)
Yes the intervalometer is a great tool for shooting lightening - thanks Art. Just compose your image, and let 'er rip. Make sure you have plenty of memory. You can get fairly inexpensive off-brand intervalometers from eBay...or pay for the name brand.
Discussion
12 repliesThe other night Art convinced me to shoot the fireworks over Elitch Gardens or a possible sunset over the Denver skyline. Well the weather quickly turned to crap and we ended up shooting in the pouring rain in a thunderstorm. Of course I brought proper attire for this occasion - wearing shirt, shorts, and some sandals. Luckily Art had a nice umbrella that kept me and our cameras somewhat less than soaking wet.
So we proceeded to shoot the thunderstorm over the city. This image is probably the best one I caught. A single exposure of 6 seconds shot with an intervalometer. It's a bit soft due to the heavy amount of rain, but shows a nice strike.
Oh almost forgot...at one point I we saw a flash of lightening somewhere...probably above us. And for the duration of the flash I felt and heard electricity arcing from the plastic handle of the umbrella into my hand! I didn't hurt but was a bit startling.
Be careful out there!!!
What does the intervalometer do?
To answer your question Todd, I told René to use the intervalometer as a way to increase the keeper rate for lightening shots. I'm sure it's been done before but I came up with it on my own. Here's how it works. Meter 1 stop lower than the scene exposure and get a decent time length of 5-10 sec for the exposure. (The lower exposure is to make up for the bright bolt) Whatever that time frame is enter that for your long exposure setting on the remote. Then set your interval shot @ 1 sec. Voila!! Your shutter's almost always open and should capture lightening strikes automatically.
Another plus for this is that you don't have to shoot at high apertures which can lead to lower resolution quality.
Warning-it does fill up cards quickly and there are other drawbacks as you can imagine but we didn't miss a lightening strike. (Except when chimping!)
Yes the intervalometer is a great tool for shooting lightening - thanks Art. Just compose your image, and let 'er rip. Make sure you have plenty of memory. You can get fairly inexpensive off-brand intervalometers from eBay...or pay for the name brand.