Nailed a lightning pic. :) Finally.

[Killakoala]

Yep, after months of trying hard to catch a lightning shot i finally got one out at the Penrith White Water Centre. At about 1530 (3:30pm) the BIG storm front passed overhead and i managed to get this nice clean bolt of energy.

Here it is. Tadah!!!!!



For a bigger pic try..
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246380/1/15242595

(EDIT: img tag sorted.)

[sirhc55]

Well done Steve - orgasmic

[JordanP]

Nice one Killa,

I had my first go at lightning last night. It was quite fun but it can be hit and miss. I really like the way you have framed the shot given you had so much natural light to capture forground interest as well.

[stubbsy]

Nice one Steve. Big change from a day ro so before when you waited & waited & got diddly.

And the link has a superfluous [/img] - don't you love phpBB sometimes - it should be: http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246380/1/15242595

[BBJ]

Well done Steve, Bet u got a grin from ear 2 ear mate cos i would.
We all know it's not easy to get them and well we have all the wild weather down here in SA at the moment but no lightning so top shot mate.
Cheers
John
BBJ

[jonnydee]

Nice work! I had a go at lightning shots last night - ended up with ~150 identical shots of wet trees

[MATT]

Awesome,

Good work Killa, I dont think I will ever get a lightning shot, I'm to paranoid of getting hit.

MATT

[Nnnnsic]

That's a nice shot, Steve... Congrats...

I tried the lightning... but was too low... for anything (had too many houses and apartments in the way)... I did get a lot of nice splishy-splashy rain drops though!

[Glen]

Well done Killa, I fely for you after your comments about 254 tries the other day

[Killakoala]

Thanks all,

I forgot to mention that the strike right after this one landed within 100 metres of where i was standing. The thunder scared the living daylights out of me, it was incredibly loud.

Reminded me of the time in Darwin when i was standing under a microwave transmission tower that was struck.......or the other time in Darwin when an HF radio antenna i was installing was also struck.....or the time when i was standing on the bridge of a boat and the mast was struck sending the power down the GPS antenna cable and into the GPS unit i was standing near, destoying the GPS unit.......etc......

One day this lightning thing will kill me...

[Mj]

Hey there Steve... spotted your shot in the SMH earlier today... must hear from you how that happened !!!

Michael.

[yeocsa]

well done, mate.

How do you know when to press the shutter button?

regards,

Arthur

[gooseberry]

Nice shot Killa,

Great timing - and with such a narrow frame, the chance of getting a lightning strike within it was small indeed.

[sheepie]

well done

pity the lightning didn't hit one of the flag poles, eh!

You are pretty lucky you didn't get hit by the sounds of it - out there is NOT the place to be in a storm - there is NO cover at all!

You were a sitting duck



...now - did someone mention ducks? hehe

[Killakoala]

MJ, easy, just posted an email to them via their link requesting storm pics and voilah!!!!, in it goes

Yeocsa I got this one by responding to the flashes with my super fast trigger finger on the shutter and handheld at 1/2 a second.

Gooseberry I cheated and cropped the original by about one third on either side of the flash to cut out the crap. (A hut and some uninteresting trees)

Sheepie As always, you make me laugh. We already have enough ducks on this site to open a Peking Duck House.

[Matt. K]

Hi Steve
Great pic!....but how the hell did you nail it at 15oohr? Were you using ND filters or was it really dark?

[Killakoala]

Matt, it was very dark for 1530

It was a very angry cloud.

Oh, and ISO 200 @ F22 helps too. Just checked the exif and it was shot at 1/8 not 1/2 as i thought it was. Even then i had to bump the lighting curve up so i reckon i could have gotten away with 1 sec exposure or more. I couldn't have hand held it that long though

[Rusty W. Griswald]

The sky was angry that day, my friends. Like an old man trying to send soup back at a deli.

[Matt. K]

Steve
To nail a lightening shot at 1/8th of a second is a fluke! Buy a lottery ticket.

[ozimax]

Good shot, well done.

I often hear lightning here up on the north coast, get in the car, drive up to the headland and every single time, I miss it! Or, it's raining so hard that it's not much use trying to photograph anything.

Oh well, if at first you don't succeed...

Max

[MHD]

This looks familiar:
http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/02/ ... 07750.html

[Killakoala]

This looks familiar:
http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/02/ ... 07750.html

The resemblance is scary

[Glen]

Steve congratulations on getting into print