You have the best explanation and background information for taking daytime lightning photos. Others seem very vague about the "why" of their settings so you aren't able to learn as well. I tried so many settings on my Sony A7iii with so many time lengths and washed out most all bolts. Thanks for being that one professional that gives out the all important "why"
yep, I got tons of questions but as usual you have cleared up a bunch of them. I shot my first ever lightning strikes yesterday and was able to edit some photos from my efforts somewhat graine but at least I got some. Thanks for all you do I have and still learn a lot from your channel.
@@BrentHall I have to learn to make a time laps from photos now but I am sure it will be easier than trying to get photos from a video time laps. Friday we are supposed to get lightning after dark and every day this week we are supposed to get afternoon storms. I will try to post a video over the weekend hopefully. Thanks again Brent.
I've had good results shooting with an ND and Sony A7s, using the electronic shutter to save wear and tear. I Rambo away in continuous mode, and the camera/flash can keep up down to 0.4 seconds. Any faster and the frames become erratic as the buffer sloshes and drains. This is a little too slow for really bright skies, but works well if I get some dark clouds behind the bolts.
well.... this explains a lot. I shot daytime last week and could not understand why I was getting nothing. I was using a 4 stop with a CPL, but I was being greedy and shooting at 2 seconds. The time washed the strikes out. Next time I'll try and get to .3 - seems like that will only give you a 1 in 4 chance of catching the strike, but I guess that's the best you can do.
This is my first time watching one of your videos because I was searching for how to photograph lightning in the daytime. There was a couple of times that you mentioned that you were looking at the radar. What exactly does that mean? Is there some kind of radar app that you can download that will help you look at electricity readings in the sky? Is there other equipment that you're using that's off-camera, like some kind of actual radar?
I just use a weather app, like weatherbug. Most of them have some sort of storm tracking radar. The the weatherbug shows lightning strikes, so that helps me gauge how much actual lightning activity there is in a storm or cell and where it's at.
Nice night shots...I prefer night lightning pics. I've ALWAYS struggled with daytime lightning photos. I usually use my Sigma 24 2.8 and I can't put filters on it. If I drop my white balance to darker would that help not having a filter?.
Changing your white balance is only going to shift the temperature of the image, not the exposure. If you don't have a filter, you can try stopping down your aperture and keep your iso as low as possible (usually 100).
Since your likelihood of capturing a bolt goes up with longer shutter speeds and the camera can only shoot every 1 second, why didn’t you turn the ND filter from 5 stops to between 6 and 7 and set the exposure to a full second? In theory at least, the one change compensates for the other.
Yeah, you could tweak it to get a longer exposure and still have it "properly" exposed, but like said in the video, the longer the exposure (even if it's not over-exposed) the more the bolts will get washed out. Trust me on this, I've been doing this for a long time and have tried everything. The bolts happen in such a small fraction of a second that the longer the exposure goes on for, the less amount of the exposure time the bolts happen in, and thus the ambient light will start to wash them out over longer times. So for daytime bolts, I like to try to keep my exposure times under 1/2 sec at the longest. That's just me though. You're welcome to try it with longer exposures, and I'm not saying you can't catch daytime bolts that way, just that they might not looks as nice and pronounced in the frame.
What about the life of the shutter; it seems you easily spend over a thousand shots per session, that means it will break down on you in about 100 sessions only?
Yeah, timelapses definitely use up a bit more shutter life. With mirrorless, you can put it in electronic shutter mode if you want though. Also, I've been doing timelapses for over 10 years now and I've never once had a shutter fail on me due to overuse. That's just my experience though, maybe I got lucky. My 5D3 had over 400K shutter actuations, and my 5D4 had closer to 650K, both only had a shutter life expectancy of 150K.
Hey Brent. Thank you so much for this video! 👍 what kind of tripod was this one? I‘m looking for one for my astro stuff too. Is this one ok for that? Greetings from switzerland 🤗
The one in that video is a very old Velbon that I've had for about 13 years now. That company is no longer around. The main tripod I usually use is the Colorado Tripod Co. Centennial tripod,. There should be a link in the description for it. It's definitely my favorite all around tripod.
You have the best explanation and background information for taking daytime lightning photos. Others seem very vague about the "why" of their settings so you aren't able to learn as well.
I tried so many settings on my Sony A7iii with so many time lengths and washed out most all bolts.
Thanks for being that one professional that gives out the all important "why"
Hey thanks for the kind words Blaine, I really appreciate that! I'm glad my video helped.
I had no idea the R5 / R6 has a built-in intervalometer and I’ve owned my R5 for months now 😐. Who knew! Great video too, thanks.
lol, nice. That's one of the main reasons I got them, for timelapses! :)
yep, I got tons of questions but as usual you have cleared up a bunch of them. I shot my first ever lightning strikes yesterday and was able to edit some photos from my efforts somewhat graine but at least I got some. Thanks for all you do I have and still learn a lot from your channel.
Oh nice, I'm glad you caught some, and that the video helped!
@@BrentHall I have to learn to make a time laps from photos now but I am sure it will be easier than trying to get photos from a video time laps. Friday we are supposed to get lightning after dark and every day this week we are supposed to get afternoon storms. I will try to post a video over the weekend hopefully. Thanks again Brent.
Enjoyed every seconds as usual.....
Thanks man!
I've had good results shooting with an ND and Sony A7s, using the electronic shutter to save wear and tear. I Rambo away in continuous mode, and the camera/flash can keep up down to 0.4 seconds. Any faster and the frames become erratic as the buffer sloshes and drains. This is a little too slow for really bright skies, but works well if I get some dark clouds behind the bolts.
Brent, nice shots and love the vid as usual. Keep em coming.
Many thanks!
Love your videos. You are so down to earth and suffer the same problems I do - mere photo newb! You make great photography seem achievable. Thanks!
Wow, thanks for the kind words Michele, I really appreciate that!
well.... this explains a lot. I shot daytime last week and could not understand why I was getting nothing. I was using a 4 stop with a CPL, but I was being greedy and shooting at 2 seconds. The time washed the strikes out. Next time I'll try and get to .3 - seems like that will only give you a 1 in 4 chance of catching the strike, but I guess that's the best you can do.
Great video again brother
Many thanks!
This is my first time watching one of your videos because I was searching for how to photograph lightning in the daytime. There was a couple of times that you mentioned that you were looking at the radar. What exactly does that mean? Is there some kind of radar app that you can download that will help you look at electricity readings in the sky? Is there other equipment that you're using that's off-camera, like some kind of actual radar?
I just use a weather app, like weatherbug. Most of them have some sort of storm tracking radar. The the weatherbug shows lightning strikes, so that helps me gauge how much actual lightning activity there is in a storm or cell and where it's at.
Nice night shots...I prefer night lightning pics. I've ALWAYS struggled with daytime lightning photos. I usually use my Sigma 24 2.8 and I can't put filters on it. If I drop my white balance to darker would that help not having a filter?.
Changing your white balance is only going to shift the temperature of the image, not the exposure. If you don't have a filter, you can try stopping down your aperture and keep your iso as low as possible (usually 100).
Hi Brent, what lapel mic are you using these days? I’m not seeing it in your links.
It's the Synco G2. I made this video about it. The link should be in that video description:
th-cam.com/video/n0lFhCWbzWQ/w-d-xo.html
@@BrentHall Thanks for the link and loving your lightning work.
Great video
Thanks Dustin!
Nice work dude
Thanks Darren!
Since your likelihood of capturing a bolt goes up with longer shutter speeds and the camera can only shoot every 1 second, why didn’t you turn the ND filter from 5 stops to between 6 and 7 and set the exposure to a full second? In theory at least, the one change compensates for the other.
Yeah, you could tweak it to get a longer exposure and still have it "properly" exposed, but like said in the video, the longer the exposure (even if it's not over-exposed) the more the bolts will get washed out. Trust me on this, I've been doing this for a long time and have tried everything. The bolts happen in such a small fraction of a second that the longer the exposure goes on for, the less amount of the exposure time the bolts happen in, and thus the ambient light will start to wash them out over longer times. So for daytime bolts, I like to try to keep my exposure times under 1/2 sec at the longest. That's just me though. You're welcome to try it with longer exposures, and I'm not saying you can't catch daytime bolts that way, just that they might not looks as nice and pronounced in the frame.
Hi, i have several questions …do you use 70-200 f/4 or f/2.8 ? Do you have both of them ? And when do you use each one ?
I currently only use and have the RF f4 version.
Is all that green grass from the recent monsoon action?
Yep
What about the life of the shutter; it seems you easily spend over a thousand shots per session, that means it will break down on you in about 100 sessions only?
Yeah, timelapses definitely use up a bit more shutter life. With mirrorless, you can put it in electronic shutter mode if you want though. Also, I've been doing timelapses for over 10 years now and I've never once had a shutter fail on me due to overuse. That's just my experience though, maybe I got lucky. My 5D3 had over 400K shutter actuations, and my 5D4 had closer to 650K, both only had a shutter life expectancy of 150K.
I hope you'll get 100k soon
That would be legit! It'll happen someday, probably more like a year or two more though.
@@BrentHall may be this year
Wow
Woo keep growing sir
Thanks man, it's a work in progress for sure! :)
Hey Brent. Thank you so much for this video! 👍 what kind of tripod was this one? I‘m looking for one for my astro stuff too. Is this one ok for that? Greetings from switzerland 🤗
The one in that video is a very old Velbon that I've had for about 13 years now. That company is no longer around. The main tripod I usually use is the Colorado Tripod Co. Centennial tripod,. There should be a link in the description for it. It's definitely my favorite all around tripod.
@@BrentHall thank you so much for your answer 👍🤗
So for daylight lighting shooting ND filter is essential, right?
Not always, but it does help, especially if you don't want to have to stop your aperture all the way down and then get bad diffraction.
sweet open pit mine
Yeah, it's gotten quite big over the last few years, really looks horrible. I think it's like the 3rd largest in the world. :(
Don’t ever blow on your filters ! Unless… spot healing in Photoshop is your favorite hobby…
Yeah...that's definitely a main hobby of mine, lol. I always forget to clean them properly when I'm being frantic.