Lightning Over The Harbour

[yakfishing]

Took a nice shot the other night of the lightning perfectly situated behind the opera house. I was hoping for some bigger bolts, but Im happy with the shot. Its my first effort at lightning

Edited April 1, 2008 by swordfisherman

[james7]

Fantastic shot yakfishing!

Did you have to take many shots? It seems like you were using a wide angle lens. Did you use a tripod?

Excellent!

Cheers

Peter

[yakfishing]

Mate I had to take about a hundred shots! I started taking shots as soon as I got there and as soon as the first shot finished exposing I clicked the shutter open again straight away and again and again and kept doing that for a fair while. Its the only way as we dont have lightning fast reaction times. They were about 8 second exposures because of the low light, so yeah a tripod is a must. I had a 35 - 80mm lense and was probably set to about 50mm which isnt really wide its more like the "angle" of the human eye

Edited April 1, 2008 by yakfishing

[Tony Soprano]

Fantastic shot mate, I love it.

Some of the other stuff on your site is great too.

Cheers

Tony

[james7]

Mate I had to take about a hundred shots! I started taking shots as soon as I got there and as soon as the first shot finished exposing I clicked the shutter open again straight away and again and again and kept doing that for a fair while. Its the only way as we dont have lightning fast reaction times. They were about 8 second exposures because of the low light, so yeah a tripod is a must. I had a 35 - 80mm lense and was probably set to about 50mm which isnt really wide its more like the "angle" of the human eye

Congratulations on actually capturing it yakfishing. I take a lot of photos, but I've never managed a good "lightning" shot. Patience is the key. 8 secs is a long exposure. Your effort was well rewarded. I've done a similar thing trying to capture dolphins just as they jump out of the water. My reaction time just isn't quick enough - I blame it on old age and failing eyesight!

I'm interested in what camera you were using. Although, I always tell people that the "person pressing the button" is more important than the type of camera! A good photographer can take great photos with a relatively cheap camera. Framing and composition is very important.

Thanks again for sharing.

I also agree with Tony Soprano, there are some great shots on your site.

Cheers

Peter

[yakfishing]

Thanks Peter. Nothing is wrong with your reaction speed I just had a look at the dolphin shots you took, that airborne one is great! Patience definitely is the key as is a huge memory card. I take heaps of shots and use only a few photos in the end, so dont be shy on the shutter button! I use a canon D60 which was top of the line years ago but is now obsolete - its only 6 mega pixels. Theres way better cameras out now with much more Mps, but i spend too much on fishing so cant afford one at the moment My one still takes decent shots tho, it just missing the resolution. The contrast and saturation isnt great but I fix that up in photoshop. I think as far as composition goes yeah you can take good shots on a cheap camera, but when it comes down to image quality and a real professional appearance youve gotta spend the money. And you need a camera that gives you complete control over the shot (ie apperture, shutter speed, white balance etc). Good lenses are a must too. Theres a lot of cameras out now that have huge Mps but really dodgy lenses and it just wastes that resolution. Im really fussy about my shots, theyve gotta be sharp as a tack or theyre no good.

Thanks for the comments guys