pattycakes77

iTrader: (2)

I've had my Nikon D60 for a couple years now and it's been fantastic. I've done some longer exposure pictures with better than average success but one style of photography I can't get good results with is LIGHTNING shots. I've set up my tripod, locked it in good and found a location that doesn't have much city light and I still get mediocre results. I've googled lightning photography and there are a lot of good sites with step by step info, but I'm still having trouble. I use the tripod, set the D60 to Bulb or a 20-30 second exposure, set the ISO to 100, and use the remote to trigger the shutter just like the instructions have said. The one part of the instructions I'm having trouble with is when it asks me to set the focus to "infinity", and I don't have that on the lens. My old 35mm has that on the lens so I know what I'm looking for, but the manual for the D60 says nothing about infinity and I can't find anything about setting it to infinity on the camera. I have turned the auto focus off since the camera won't take the picture in low light with auto focus ON. There was a big storm producing some awesome lightning just north of me last night and out of the dozens of pictures I took, I only had one come out half decent. The others were either pitch black, out of focus, or turned out grainy like if I used a high ISO in low light. I tried adjusting the aperture all over the place to see if one setting yielded better results than the others, no luck. Does anyone out there use a D60 and have some tips on setting the focus to infinity or any other tips on how to get some decent pictures of lightning or fireworks? Thanks.

tc

Google "hyperfocal distance", however, the easiest way is to set the autofocus at the furthest out point (full clockwise or CCW on the focus ring).

Also, a smaller aperture (larger f-stop number) will increase the depth of field, making the actual focus point less critical. Your camera is probably selecting a wide-open aperture based on the light available. f16-22 is a good place to be for the sharpest images.

Be sure to check out the long exposure/low light thread in this forum!

MortonPhotographic

Lightning is the hardest thing to shoot. I shoot lighting and fireworks in the same way... Setup the camera on a tripod and compose the shot. It's a little easier with fireworks because you have some idea of where they will be, not so much with lightning.

I then start with F11 or F16--this is pretty close to the perfect aperture for exposing fireworks, shutterspeed isn't an issue, because you just leave the shutter open. I will tend to fine-tune the aperture, but F11-F16 works pretty well for lightning too. I shoot at ISO 100, and turn on long exposure noise reduction.

I tend to focus on a spot in the distance and then turn the AF off. I am not a fan of focusing to infinity, too much of a "guess" I suppose.

After that, it really is just a waiting game. I have tried several times and we have killer monsoons here in AZ with insane lightning.

I suspect this is the best shot I got on the 4th one year, but honestly I don't think it's great. I will keep trying, I suggest you do the same!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mortonp...ic/2640157354/

Tofer

get a 6x6" sheet of cardboard, spray paint it black
set it to bulb and open the shutter,
use the black cardboard held up in front of the lens (make sure not to bump it)
it allows you to move the shutter to "open" it and then during times of inacitvity black it out again.. it will allow for multiple strikes/bursts to appear in a single shot..

Dont keep your nikon open for longer than about 12 minutes, i've heard that its not good on the motor to keep it oen that long.

Tofer

also make sure that you set your white balance to Florescent

tc

Any updates from the OP on how the advice worked out?

pattycakes77

iTrader: (2)

Hey TC! Yeah, I've still got some work and practice but just a few days ago I got my first actual lightning bolt pictures:





There were a few pretty good storms this summer but the timing didn't work out on most. I would see the storm and gather my equipment, drive out of town to a decent location, and the lightning had already passed. I have been out about 5 or 6 times now with no luck, or my lack of knowledge would not yield good results. Both of the above pictures were done with 30 second exposures. I had to go with 30 seconds because somehow my remote shutter trigger was left at home so there was no way to keep the image from blurring in the "Bulb" setting, I would have had to hold the button down the whole time and that would definitely have blurred things. So, 30 second exposures this time, I was out for about an hour and a half, and I got two pretty decent shots. The hardest part of this is trying to focus the camera in complete darkness without anything for reference to know what to focus on. These two pictures could have been a bit sharper, but I was unable to manually focus in pitch black with the tiny viewfinder and no good reference points. I hope we get a few more storms this year before the bad weather sets in, I'd like to practice a bit more and see if I can get some better shots!

Thanks again for the info everyone, helped a lot!

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

cool,,,just picked up some good ideas