Lake Storms

[djwoodward]

Originally Posted by CanisLupusArctos

At first I was amazed to see these were digital, since digital likes to pixelate time exposures at night

Digital cameras do often have problems with long exposures. The pixelation you refer to is generally referred to as “noise”. The noise can be intensified from the heat generated by the sensor during long exposures. It’s even worse at high ISO settings. I have a few things going in my favor to keep the noise low. 1 - Canon is touted to be one of the best cameras when it comes to low noise although Nikon has may have caught them in their most recent offerings. 2 - I usually shoot at ISO 100. The fact that the first shot above is at 400 is unusual for me. 3 - I have a piece of software called “Neat Image” that does a great job of noise reduction in post processing. Another popular one is called “Noise Ninja”

[djwoodward]

Originally Posted by CanisLupusArctos

From stormchaser to stormchaser: What sort of safety precautions were you taking (if any )

I like to believe I have a healthy respect for the power of these storms. However, as you know there's really no safe way to chase lightning. The general consensus is that there’s NO safe place outside in a thunderstorm. Most lightning safety groups say if you hear thunder or see lightning you need to get inside a substantial building or a hard top automobile. Even the old 30-second rule (between flash and thunder) isn't supported any more.

I've thought of making something to mount my camera inside the car but for now I try to be "reasonable" in my quest. Most of the shots I've taken have been as the storm approach although I've has some luck after storms pass as well. I more-or-less follow the old 30-second rule to not let any strike get closer than 6 miles (in theory). But I've already seen that this isn't fool proof. I had one strike that was only ~2 miles away from me in June and unfortunately it wasn’t even in the camera’s field of view. For what-it’s-worth I’m never more than a few steps away from shelter (usually my car) but that won’t help if a stray bolt sneaks-up on me.

The lightning in the shots I posted here is about 6 to 10 miles away and taken as the storm approached. Keep in mind that the last one is a cropped-shot so it looks much closer. The lightning in this one was actually the farthest away of any of these shots. I’ll post the original if I can find it. I left almost immediately after each of these shots for safety and to get my camera undercover before the rain started.

I'm not quite foolish enough to stay out through an entire storm. I use a quick hit-and-run approach before or after but I make no claims that it's a safe thing to do.

I hope this wasn't too long of a ramble...

[djwoodward]

Here's the original of the cropped shot above.


BTW...
Last night I saw the most brilliant and sustained IC (inter cloud) lightning that I've ever seen. I was travelling east toward home from Lebanon/Hanover and could never quite catch-up to the storm enough to set up the camera. It would have been an awesome night to shoot. Did you get any Canis?

[Mee-n-Mac]

Talk about inter-cloud lightning ...

Just as the storms had passed last weekend I went out with a buddy to see "what's up". The rain had ceased but there was still some sporadic lightning. I had my dSLR on my "hip" but since you can't catch these things by pointing and shooting I had given up (tripod back in the cabin). As I looked out towards Sandy Pt my buddy turned around and said something which I lost, because just at that moment there was a cloud-cloud discharge that was multipronged like I had never seen before. All I could do was point and say "ugh". Had I persevered in my earlier attempts that day I might have caught it.




ugh




ps : Some of the Panasonic (?) digicams had a neat feature that would be handy in these situations. You hit the shutter and they kept grabbing shots until you let up, storing only the last five or so frames. So you only had to point and press and them let up after you had seen the bolt. Great for capturing a scene you expected to happen but didn't know when it was to happen. I wonder if they still have that feature ....