Lightning Storm | June 22, 2012

Looking like we may see some more small scale surf the next few days, keep your fingers crossed!

This past week I incidentally ran into a pretty wild lightning storm on my way home, I hadn’t taken any photos in a few days and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to try some long exposure stuff. After a few attempts at getting the clouds and the Hampton Beach lights in the frame, I decided to try shooting the lightning bolts. Lightning photography doesn’t require long exposure but instead a faster shutter to stop the lightning bolts as they strike. This was a particularly extensive undertaking as it turns out. I ended up trying to use the Reverse ND filter then putting it away, fussing with the ISO sensitivity then turning it back down to 100 (where it will forever stay)….and finally turning off the RAW photo processing, leaving me with FINE JPEG format photos. As any Lightroom user may know, it’s extremely painful getting photos your happy with when not in RAW format. All and all, I shot 1300 shutter clicks this particular evening, this isn’t the best practice regarding shutter lifetime but timing is everything with lightning and it’s almost impossible without continuous photo mode.

The picture below shows the Northern end of North Beach with the wall to the right.

BELOW: Lightning Over Rye Rocks

BELOW: Lightning flash at North Beach

We have a few projects that are close to their final cut stage, keep an eye out for a Snap Infusion Energy Candy commercial and a video project for The White Mountains Attractions Association. Soon to be released! Please contact us for any photo/video inquiries : ryan@alpine-live.com