The problem of shooting lightning

First, safety is the basis of shooting lightning.

Lightning, behind its beautiful appearance, contains a cold word-danger. If you want to shoot lightning, at least stay away from areas with high lightning frequency, or simply shoot in buildings or cars. The window on the top floor of a hotel or accommodation is the best place to shoot. If you are already outdoors, find yourself a place to hide before the storm and lightning come. At least you should make sure that your camera and yourself won't get wet by the rainstorm.

Second, determine the shooting location

The location of lightning is very important. Because shooting lightning requires long exposure, the influence of background light must be considered. Generally, the darker the background light, the better.

When shooting in the city, the night sky is obviously not as dark as in the wild because of the reflection of clouds by street lamps and building lights. That is to say, if you use timed exposure, the negative will be completely exposed in a few seconds, so whether there is lightning or not, you should roll the negative to the next one. Because the background light is too strong, the exposure time cannot be set very long, and the effect will not be too good.

For backpackers, there is no need to be depressed when it rains cats and dogs in outdoor activities, because this is the best time to shoot lightning. The exposure time can be set very long, and it is possible to get more opportunities to shoot lightning.

The aperture is determined by the distance from the lightning point.

Thunder is the basis for estimating how far lightning is from you. Because the aperture when shooting lightning is estimated according to the distance of lightning. Since the speed of light is as high as 300 thousand kilometers per second, we can ignore the propagation time of lightning light. The speed of sound in air is 340 meters per second. According to the time between seeing lightning and hearing thunder, we can estimate the distance between lightning clouds and us. For example, it takes ten seconds to hear thunder after seeing lightning, and it can be roughly inferred that the clouds where lightning occurs are 3.4 kilometers away from us.

The determination of aperture data depends on the distance of lightning from you. The general rule is to shoot lightning about 8 kilometers with ISO 100 sensitivity, and f/8 is the best aperture choice. If lightning occurs 8 kilometers away, it is best to use f/5.6 aperture; If it is close to 5km, use f/ 1 1.

Third, the timing of shooting lightning.

You can shoot lightning day and night. Generally speaking, lightning shot at night is more vivid. There is no skill to shoot lightning during the day, because it is almost impossible to shoot a good lightning picture during the day, because the background light is too bright. Lightning can happen anytime and anywhere, and it is very fast. No matter how fast you react, when you see lightning, press the shutter and the lightning disappears before the aperture is opened. Moreover, the occurrence of lightning is accidental, and the probability of continuous lightning in the same place is very small. Therefore, there is little chance of shooting lightning during the day to make a good film.

If you shoot lightning at night, you are likely to get excellent lightning pictures. You can control the shutter release speed between a few seconds and a few minutes to record a series of continuous lightning processes. The shooting method is relatively simple, and the focal length of the lens is generally a standard lens or a slightly wide angle. Use manual focusing at infinity. Because it is a long exposure, of course, it is necessary to use a relatively stable tripod, release it with a cable or remotely control it.

When shooting, stand the camera on a tripod and choose the foreground with an open sky. If ISO 100 film is used, set the aperture to 5.6, set the exposure speed selector to the position of "B" or "T", and then release the shutter. If lightning flashes all the time outside the shooting range, it will generally not cause overexposure, so you can keep the shutter open and continue exposure until. If the lightning position is not ideal, the same negative can be repeatedly exposed for 2 ~ 4 times according to the brightness of lightning. As long as lightning does not appear in the same area of the picture, of course, there will be no overexposure. Therefore, the exposure time does not depend entirely on the size of the aperture. The most important thing is whether lightning has been photographed.

Some photographers think lightning is very strong. To prevent overexposure, block the lens with a black cloth, and remove the black cloth when you see lightning. This is an absolutely wrong way to shoot, because no matter how fast you move, you can't be as fast as the speed of light. The so-called "lightning can't cover your ears" is the truth.