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Lightning Following Rain Shaft

Lightning Following Rain Shaft
Lightning Following Rain Shaft

Lightning Following Rain Shaft

Having watched several bolts flash out of this rain shaft, I dutifully pointed a long lens at the spot. Tracked it a ways and the Lightning trigger clicked the camera automatically. Sometimes I have been lucky observing repeat performances with bolts originating out of the same spot of the sky. Even as the storm system moves across the landscape, the lighting source moves with it on the timeline. I have various experiences watching the same point in the storm launch bolts along the storms path. I’ve worked well over 100 storms to date for lightning.

Photographic Musings.

Lightning bolts last a half a second sometimes so longer exposures up to that long work nicely curing the daylight hourse. Your other two manual settings are subject to what your doing and the ambient light level so any of my “Shared” settings won’t help. I will tell you that I like to set my ISO around 320 for daylight lightning under deep clouds. Shutter speed will change depending on how much wind is blowing. Long shutter speeds and a shaking vehicle don’t work well together. If your just taking a 2D sky as above, depth of focus is irrelevant. Low fstop of about f6 and a Lower ISO would be better. If your taking a landscape and want the foreground in focus, it’s important to have a higher F-stop as that gives you depth of focus from close to far. But it takes away light which has to be made up for with camera sensitivity (ISO).

Good Luck and be safe if your playing this game.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Lightning Following Rain Shaft