My lightning pictures

tomboudreau · #1 Postby **tomboudreau** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:51 pm

About a week ago, we had a thunderstorm roll through the western part of Alleghney county, heading towards the southern part of the county. As the storm was approaching the area, I got a couple of pictures from the lightning. Hope you enjoy them.

southerngale · #2 Postby **southerngale** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:52 pm

Nice pics...thanks for sharing.

#3 Postby **brunota2003** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:32 pm

cool

#4 Postby **alicia-w** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:33 pm

thanks for sharing! those are great. did you take them with a digital or film camera? (just curious...)

SCMedic · #5 Postby **SCMedic** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:42 pm

Digital. You can tell by how grainy the bottom pic is...

#6 Postby **alicia-w** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 3:25 pm

i thought that might be an artifact of scanning.... and our digital camera has higher resolution than a lot of film cameras.

SCMedic · #7 Postby **SCMedic** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:29 pm

I have a Digital Rebel XT, and it kicks major ass....I love it! Not everyone wants to spend 1k plus on a hobby though.

Jim Cantore · #8 Postby **Jim Cantore** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:13 pm

very nice pictures 8-)

CajunMama · #9 Postby **CajunMama** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:10 am

thanks for sharing those with us!

TexasStooge · #10 Postby **TexasStooge** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:39 am

Excellent pics!!! 8-)

#11 Postby **joseph01** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:57 am

Nice pics, thanks for sharing. I use to do that years ago with my old Pentax. Easy to do, and had a lot of fun doing it.

HurricaneHunter914 · #12 Postby **HurricaneHunter914** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:27 am

I find it hard taking pictures of lightning since it is only there for a millisecond. How exactly do you know when there is a lightning bolt and how do you get the picture of it?

#13 Postby **joseph01** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:22 am

I know little about new digital cameras, but I had a 35mm with a mechanical shutter, which I also used for astrophotography. You open the iris all the way, aim at the storm, then simply hold the shutter open until a lightning flash, then close it and advance to the next shot, repeat. I used 400 film. Captured some great bolts that way.

I forgot, it also helps if you're in a dark location, so you don't soak up lots of stray light when the shutter in open.

HurricaneHunter914 · #14 Postby **HurricaneHunter914** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:00 pm

Thanks! Now all I need is a digital camera.

Lindaloo · #15 Postby **Lindaloo** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:04 pm

Those are nice!!

tomboudreau · #16 Postby **tomboudreau** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:18 pm

I have a secret and I will share. It is done on a digit camera. I stood there and ever 5 seconds...I would count thousand one, thousand two, and so on until a thousand 5, and then click. I would keep doing that until the card is full. I would go back and see if I got anything, and if I did, I would download to the computer and see how it would look. If I caught nothing, I would delete the card and start over again. The night I took those, we started getting lightning some 45 minutes before the storm actually moved in on us. So, I stood hanging out the window taking pictures. I had 4 good shots that I liked out of probably almost 500. The arms get tired after a while, but I just rested my arms on the window case. I was suppose to be studing for a couple of certifications, but that went by the waste side as I worked on getting the pictures taken. :oops:

Once the storm moved in to close, I stopped, because I didnt want to flood out the bedroom and have an angry wife at me. That particular storm dumped almost .5 inch of rain, and we had 2 period of hail. The first period brought .25 inch hail...and the second period brought .25 to .50 inch hail. The camera was upstairs at that point, and I couldnt get upstairs quick enough to get a couple of pictures of the hail that we got.

Rainband · #17 Postby **Rainband** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:24 pm

Nice Job Tom 8-)

My lightning pictures

My lightning pictures

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