Nature's Fireworks

[Dennis Gallus]

We are in the middle of the monsoon season here in Southern Arizona.  Moisture comes up from the Gulf of Mexico and we get heavy rains, usually accompanied by thunder and lightning.  I made two attempts to capture the light shows recently, and met with some success.


Lightning over Mt. San Jose.  55mm/2.8 Micro Nikkor, 1 minute at f/4.5


UAV and cloud lightning over Bisbee.  55mm/2.8 Micro Nikkor, 1.5 minutes at f/4.5.  The light trail in the center of the frame is from what I believe was a UAV from Fort Huachuca.  They seem to show only a white light.


On another night:  Lightning strike over Huachuca Mountains.  35mm/2.0 Nikkor, 30 sec at f/8.  “Huachuca” (pronounced wha-CHOO-ka) means thunder mountains, which seems appropriate


Second lightning strike over Huachuca Mountains. 35mm/2.0 Nikkor, 20 sec at f/8. 

I used a meter-less Nikon FM that I’ve had since March, 1978, and Fujicolor 200 film.     

If you look up lightning photography on the web, you see that exposure information is very vague.  Aperture is set by how far away the lightning is.  For ISO 200 at 20 miles or so, f/4 to f/5.6 was recommended.   For the first two shots shown here, it was very dark out and I could afford to keep the shutter open for 30 to 90 seconds at f/4.5.  The second night was different.  There was a lot of cloud-to-cloud lightning that washed out the sky.  The bolts were quite close, less than five miles, so I used f/8.  Because of the cloud lightning I did not try for long exposures.  I tried to keep the shutter open for 20-30 seconds, and then wound it and and tried again whether or not I had seen a bolt fly.   I wasted a lot of film on shots that meant nothing.

I have not tried using a digital camera for lightning.  Keeping the shutter open on B for the required long exposures would quickly deplete the battery, I’m sure.

The usual warnings about being out with a metal tripod during thunderstorm activity apply.  I now have titanium rods and nickel-steel parts in both shoulder joints, and was acutely conscious of these warnings.

Thanks for looking.  Please join me and add any lightning photos (and data) that you have.

Dennis

[NancyB]

Not bad.  Lightning is very frustrating to try to capture.  I managed to get a few lightning shots from my balcony a few years ago during a storm over Lake Ontario.  There was no chance of being hit by lightning, as the storm was probably miles away over the lake, but I still felt vulnerable standing on my balcony.  The trick to capturing lightning is to have a lot of patience and a lot of luck!

You're right about the info being vague, but I think what I did was to shut down the lens to f22 and no zoom at all, to try to get as much area as possible in the hopes that the lightning would strike in that space.  I think I was out there for two hours and these are the best shots I got.  I would love to go back out some day and get some more.

Sorry about the crappy scans, I have never gotten around to scanning the negs!

[Dennis Gallus]

Nice work, Nancy!  The negs certainly get grainy with the kind of exposures one has to use.  Thanks for the reply.

Dennis

[NancyB]

Yes, the negs do get very grainy.  I guess that's reciprocity failure at work, no?

And I had another look at your shots, and I must say I really like the first lightning shot, the way the bolt fills the whole frame.  I don't know that I would have the courage to stand outside like you did, though!

[Julio1fer]

Excellent, both of you. It is hard to get good lightning pictures. I've never been able to get one, even though we have plenty of storms.

[br1078lum]

Nice shots, both of you.  It's the stormy seson here too, only problem is most of the storms are in the afternoon, early evening, then die down.  Or come from the wrong direction, and I have to seek shelter from the rain.  But I'll keep trying.  I'll make sure to use a camera with mirror lock-up, too.  Got more shake out of the F90s than I wanted.

PF

[NancyB]

Thanks you guys! 

And like I said, photographing lightning is almost all luck and lots of patience.  But keep trying, just be safe!!  As for your camera shaking, I think I just used my Nikon FM2 on the tripod, and I held onto one of the tripod legs to be sure it wouldn't move.  Of course, I was on a flat surface out of the wind on my balcony.  I haven't been able to capture lightning since those shots were taken many years ago, because I moved and I don't look out over the lake anymore and my view is not as nice.  But one of these days I'll try again.

[lesged]

Dennis and Nancy,

Compliments to you both for each of your dramatic captures of nature's fireworks.

They are striking, indeed!

[NancyB]

Striking!  I see what you did there!   

[lesged]

Nancy,

I made a typo in the last sentence. I wrote : "There are striking, indeed!"  I goofed on the first word; I intended to write: 

"They are striking, indeed!"

Shame on me for not editing carefully before posting. I fixed the original post.

 

[NancyB]

Les, I thought you were making a play-on-words, you know, talking about lightning pictures, and you call them "striking."  Get it?  I thought it was a good joke on your part.

[Dennis Gallus]

I've been hoping for more evening or night electrical storms, so I could try adding to this collection using the digital camera.  Unfortunately, the storms haven't come.  Our monsoon season might last a few more weeks, so there is still hope.

Thanks to all who have looked at and commented on these photos.  Lester, I too appreciated your "striking" comment.  Thanks especially to Nancy for keeping the thread going nicely. 

Dennis

[NancyB]

We've had a few storms lately, but not at night and not enough lightning.  I hope you have better luck than me!

[lesged]

Nancy,

You had it exactly right--it was a play on words--intended to be a jocular comment. However, it fell flat on its face with my typo and explanation. I am a hopeless punster.

Dennis,

Great subject! Wish I had a good lightning shot to show, but I never made a one. Thanks for your comment.