BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Questions with Sample Photos

What the .....?!

Camera and lens: Pentax zx 50 with 50mm f/1.4 lens. Tripod and locking cable release used. Turned autofocus off and focused on infinity. (If it matters at all, I was positioned about 10-15 yards from the lighted tree.)

Photo #1
Shot at f/16 with 200 speed Kodak Gold color (like the Kodak field guide said to do). I probably left the shutter open somewhere between 30-60 seconds or more here, as all my other shots are WAY underexposed, and I shot most of them under 15 seconds. (Kodak pocket guide failed to mention time -- I guess they thought it was a given...maybe I should've gotten "The Idiot's Guide..." instead...) I faintly remember putting my thumb over the viewfinder during at least one shot (lost my little cover doohickey), so this very well may be the one. Didn't realize this was really a big deal, but I guess I should get a new doohickey.) This is pretty telling of the type of lightning I was seeing--distant glows, so I wasn't expecting strikes or lines of light, but this is definitely too hazy. There is also some additional light from the street and some artificial landscape lighting shining up through the tree there.

PHoto #2 (Same position, camera, lens, etc.)
I wasn't going for composition in either photo. I was merely attempting get the technical stuff down. Maybe I should've done the opposite. Anyhoo, I shot this at f/16 with Kodak 200 Gold and bulb setting. I believe I left the shutter open about 20 seconds, but who knows... I waited for about 4 or 5 cars to pass -- more or less one right after another -- going approximately 50 mph. As you can see, I did get an interesting lighting effect off the street lamp there on the right. I'll have to remember to write my details down for every exposure, so that I can remember what the heck I did.

Hope someone can help. I'm thinking I should've doubled or tripled the time on the first photo -- plus covering the viewfinder. On the second, I'm thinking I don't know which way to go from here. Stop down and decrease shutter speed, or the opposite?

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November 24, 2001

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November 25, 2001

Fodors says use 5.6, but again, they do not say how long to leave the shutter open. In fact, Fodors' suggestion for lightning is to cover the lens with a black card between lightning strikes--getting "several strikes on one exposure." What the heck? 'Several'? Does this mean 3, 5, 10? I hate these vague technical writers! I'm going to try the lightning shoot again next time we get a storm. Will be sure to post my results. Keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks for commenting.

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November 25, 2001

If anyone's interested, here's what the Kodak Pocket Guide says about shooting lightning. (p. 107; Weather/Lightning):

Lighting shots look best when some foreground is included. They're easier to take at night because you can use longer exposures to catch several flashes on a single frame of film.

For day or night shots, use medium-speed film, a tripod, and a locking cable release. Use a normal or slightly wide-angle lens so you have sufficient coverage to increase your chances of catching lightning. Point the lens at the heaviest concentration of lightning. Focus on infinity, set the aperture at f/16, and the shutter at B, and hold it open with a locking cable release.

At night, use an exposure of 5 minutes. During the day, let your meter guide your exposure and keep shooting until you've caught lightning streaking across the sky when the shutter was open. Take shelter when the storm nears. (duh! If you need to be told to get in out of the rain, then you have worse problems than how to shoot a picture!) :)

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November 25, 2001

You can stop down tighter, but the lighting won't be quite as bright in the image. Lighting will illuminate its immediate surroundings some (sky and ground). Extremely long exposures beyond about one to ten seconds usually create a problem with film reciprocity failure requiring even longer exposure and it often affects color balance. At what exposure time reciprocity failure occurs and the compensation required for it (time and color balancing) is very film dependent. See the data sheet for the film you use to find out what it is. Kodachrome 64 is about one second. Fuji Provia 100F is about 30 seconds. I use Kodachrome and don't worry about color balancing for it. The color shift is still subtle under these conditions, even at 5-10 seconds, and it's usually not critical for this type of photography.

Most electronic shutters burn battery power at a relatively high rate while holding the shutter open. If there is a mechanical "B" or "Bulb" shutter speed setting, use it to keep from conserve your camera batteries.

-- John

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November 26, 2001