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My first post. Hope it works. Be as critical as you like.
Taken at Bar Beach, Newcastle NSW during impressive storms last week. PS Im not sure if i saved this at a good enough quality, i think its only 45k or so, sorry about that. Still learning.

Hi APOLLO_CAT Welcome to the forum, and a great post for first up. ok i wont comment on the photo as i have never got to take a pic of this sort but others have so i will leave it to them but too say i think it was a good capture as i am sure any lightning pic is good to get.
Enjoy your stay.
Cheers
John
BBJ

Impressive for your first post APOLLO_CAT - well caught and looks good on my screen

Nice shot... If the balcony had been any other colour it would probably have detracted from the lightning... As it is, it probably enhances the picture...
Did you use flash to light up the balcony, or was it just a long exposure??? Couldn't get any EXIF details from your pic...

Thanks for all the +ve comments.

Leek, no flash was used. there was a rather bright tungsten (i believe) lamp nearby (to the left of screen) that illuminated the fence/railing.

The exposure was approx 12secs @ f16, ISO400 using d70 with 18-70dx lens. I did no enhancing except to resize.


Thanks again for encouraging comments.

Bloody Brilliant

Some tough competition coming on this Forum.

Well done APOLLO_CAT.

MIC.

Great shot. Foreground really helps the image.

I'm a newbie too and I know you can post this bigger than 45k. Keep on trying with bigger size files (trial & error) and you'll get there.

It's taken me a while to get the optimum (is that a word?) posting down. I'm still going with only 2 posts but I'm getting closer to nailing it.

Feel free to email me your shot, I'd love to see it higher res.

Great shot! Did you set the shutter and take your chances or did you use bulb and let go after the lightning struck?

I hope you weren't using a tripod!

Nice one!

the colour contrast is great!

Welcome APOLLO_CAT

Another Novocastrian (yay). Great shot and an impressive first post. I'm looking forward to more of this quality from you.

WHOO HOO! Beautiful shot! (yes, my nic says it all!) I'm waiting for some action in Melbourne so I can shoot some stuff like this (time permitting!) But down here we are lacking in storms something shocking!

Nice work! Nothing like a good anvil crawler! Well done!

Very nice Apollo cat, nice to see foreground in a lightning pic.

APOLLO_CAT wrote:The exposure was approx 12secs @ f16, ISO400 using d70 with 18-70dx lens.

Nice crawler Apollo, the only thing I would suggest is use ISO200 for all your lightning shots - less chance of too many saturated pixels, and generally f2.8 for more distant down to f/11 or 16 for very close (dangerous!) lightning.
heres a couple taken from Siding Spring last week.


10sec f/8, 85mm f/2


15sec f/8, 18-70 @31mm

I havent had the right storms in the last year or so to match the best lightning pics I've taken, they are mostly on K25 and Velvia 50, and I'm not convinced that digital can match them yet... but will wait and see when the right storm approaches

Gordon

OK storm chasers, I have been "lucky" enough to get a couple of shots of a lightening strike but nothing as nice as these ones. What is the trick? I have used a long exposure and hoped that I get a good strike. Is it just down to a fast trigger finger or what?

Mal wrote:OK storm chasers, I have been "lucky" enough to get a couple of shots of a lightening strike but nothing as nice as these ones. What is the trick? I have used a long exposure and hoped that I get a good strike. Is it just down to a fast trigger finger or what?

Lightning photography can be very frustrating, in the old days I used to waste a LOT of film (expensive!) but now I just make good use to the delete button for the shots that dont catch anything decent. I'd say in the past 28 years of lightning photography, only 1 in 100 is really good, so dont expect to get that perfect shot straight off, you really do have to stick at it.
You need a good vantage point too, with somewhere safe ( inside a car is good) very close by in case the lightning gets too close.
The best storm I photographed produced about a dozen really good shots, back in 1984, but I called it quits and jumped back into the car when there was a strike not all that far behind me!

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. Sounds like I just need to keep sticking at what I am doing. Last big storm we had in Berowra I took about 100 shots and ended up with 2 half decent ones.

very nice picture. A few more months before I can get pics of lightning. And welcome to the board.

gordon, your shots are stunning! thanks for the hints!

Don't expect to take great photos in couple of shots. I usually take at least 100 photos to get a good one. But meh...I love my cityview window when it lights up at night.