Kevin's Watch

lurch wrote:Sky Harbor

Oh - ! <sigh> Wow!

Robyn and Jenn thanks for your comments, Sky Harbor was taken a year ago,,,this one was taken tonite...my muse is a camera hog...in a good way. I think thats what I'll call it..In A Good Way.:

A Storm has just blown in. I took these pics directly overhead. I call them " Roiling Clouds"

Wind Blown

The Protector of the Deities

Desire

City Park

Knifes Edge

Tall Order

Receding Dream....or...One second before the alarm clock goes off.

2nd left after the first green light.

red paws

a couple more from last evening:

Notta Dry Heat




...When Ya Come Up, Come Over!



..boil, toil, and trouble



Frame of Reference

one from a couple of days ago..

16th and Deer Valley

and two from this evening



and

Impressive! I can't tell you how long we stood at Valles Caldera last year, trying to get pictures of lightning. *No*body got one (as far as I know).

aliantha wrote:Impressive! I can't tell you how long we stood at Valles Caldera last year, trying to get pictures of lightning. *No*body got one (as far as I know).

Sorry for the ignorant question (I am no photographer) but how does one photograph lightning? Is there something tipping you off that it is about to occur or do you just guess and hope you capture some?

Before the digital camera, professionals used " light sensing" equipment to detect and trigger shutter. Here is the" technique" I use:..I have a digital camera, A Canon A720 and a Canon A715 . They both have " movie' capability. Movie mode is basically the camera taking a pic every 1/3 of a second. Two considerations are..batteries,,and memory. My camera allows for about 8 minutes of Movie before memory is filled up..BUT..Theres More!..One can take a 8 minute long movie and still not capture one shot of a lightning bolt..So..1st..notice where the lightning is..a likely place out here in the west is ,,within where its raining. So distance is important..but first,,put your attention on where its lightning. A bolt goes off..start counting...notice the time between lightning bolts..15 seconds? 30 seconds?,,a minute?..Count the time over 2 or 3 or 4 lightning strikes..Average the time out if you want to..Set up your camera,,wait for a bolt ..start counting,,about 5 to 10 seconds before the average time between bolt , depress the shutter button and hold..when the bolt goes off,,turn the camera off or stop taking the movie..Count off the seconds until near the next bolt hit..start taking movie..repeat..In a good storm with bolts going off at about 20 to 40 to 60 seconds,,I have been able to capture lightning bolts 7 out of 10 movies at worst. Now,,what I have captured is another story..Even at rate of a picture at every 1/3 of a second..the difference of the lightning from frame to frame is startleling. It can go from overexposed huge white blob of blast to fine detailed spider web in less than a full second. For every pic of lightning I have posted here,,there are at least just as many and more likey twice as many,,pics that are non usable even with lightning in them. Then there are those frames taken,,with no lightning at all. Thats whats so neat about digital cameras..just trash the non usable stuff.

Just remember..lightning is dangerous stuff..the best views of lightning are often from the most dangerous places..so know when to leave the area,, don't stand in puddles..and no flying kites,,okay?

Some fantastic photos lurch!
Also, thanks for the tips on lightening capturing. Thats the beauty of digital cameras, being able to just delete the bad ones. I shall have to remember your tips next time I encounter a good thunder/lightening storm!

These were taken today at a large street carnival near my house that happens each year. Usually I avoid it like the plague but I had to play tour guide to some visitors so I decided to take my camera.

Cool, Chrysalis!

We needed you at Valles Caldera, lurch. My kids tried the movie-mode technique but they didn't figure out the counting part of it, I guess.