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FramedByNature — Electric Education
Published: 2010-12-15 01:47:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 954; Favourites: 38; Downloads: 0
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Description
Canon Digital Rebel XSiTamron 10-24mm wide angle
To shoot this lightning display, I went up to my high school since it has a clear view to the southwest. Once the lightning began to appear more overhead than to the southwest, I went around to the front of the high school to see if I could get a photo of lightning above the high school. This was incredibly tough to frame, thank goodness I had my wide angle. Luckily, a bolt didn't hit the flagpole (though that would have made for a more interesting/dangerous photo)
Please tell me what you think!
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Comments: 47
thats a really great shot, really impressive!
And I do believe I live near that school. Which made me laugh,
either way great job!
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Thank you! Really? Small world
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BURN SCHOOL BURN!!! Haha! Really awesome shot there!
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I think if it HAD struck that pole you'd have an overexposed bolt of lightning covering half the frame.
And interesting note, I do like how even though you exposure time says 20 seconds, the lightning managed to brighten those flags so much that it appears as a much shorter exposure, with a blur around them as well suggesting the true length of the shot. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
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Yeah, stopping down to f/9.0 definitely wouldn't have been enough considering I was maybe 50 feet away
I love that about lightning shots. It's kind of like taking a long exposure and firing a flash in the middle of it to freeze the motion at a point in time
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I think that you are very lucky, chasing storms and lightning is both challenging and oftentimes dangerous---don't get too close to the thing you love
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Yeah, I know 
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You should show this picture to the district. They'd probably put it on their page
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Yeah, I should!
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Ha.. I should go back and do that where I went to High School.. our mascot was "The Flash" lol
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Lol get one with the mascot in it too!
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OO
a "flash from the past?"
Great shot Thundercatcher
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Thanks! More lightning to come
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yeah! thanks thundercatcher!
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When you shot this, was your camera on automatic or did you manually set the shutter speed and aperture?
Also, did you wait until the lightning appeared before you took the shot or did you make a series of shots until you got something?
I have been trying to shoot lightning all my life and just haven't ever got it right! LOL
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I was in manual (or maybe aperture priority). I stopped down to f/9.0 to avoid blowing out the bolts. Had a 20 second shutter speed and took numerous consecutive frames until I finally got one with some lightning.
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Thanks for the info. 
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Basically, the longer shutter, the better. Stop your aperture down when the bolts are closer (f/14). If they're distant on the horizon, keep your aperture open (f/3.5).
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Thanks! I added this to your previous advice.
Only 4 and half months to storm season!!
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I love how clear this whole photo is. The colours are excellent.
Was the smudge at the bottom of the first flagpole on purpose, though?
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Thank you, glad you like it
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Probably because it's my favorite kind of lightning, these crazy cloud-to-cloud branches
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BTW, have this weird habit of adding s to your name. Sorry
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Ahh no worries, at least you call me Evan! Half the people on here call me Billy because of my username
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Thank you!
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you are so welcome!!!
it looked like it was pretty cool to watch!!
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Oooohhh wow! That is one crazy, but very awesome, shot!!
I'm amazed you caught the lightning so well here and the colors in this are very vibrant, which was one of the things that caught my eye to see what this photo was all about. I really like how you captured that purple-blue color of the sky with the lightning bolt up in the top, the white effect around it plus it being over your school...makes it creepy but awesome!! [Which you've got a lovely title to as well
I also like how you captured the way the flags are here and the yellow of the lights along with their reflection in the puddles is great too!
Also, since I'm looking a bit into a Canon myself for the holidays, do you have any information I could look into about it? I see you wrote you have the Rebel XSi, which I had been looking into something like a Rebel [it had been the t2i but the sale for that ended X_x] But anywho, I was just wondering if you knew of any tips for it and such, if not that's all right too =]
Lovely photo though!!
Your school looks like an interesting place as well =]
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Thank you very much! Had a tough time thinking of a title, but I knew that one would work when it popped into my head.
The Canon Rebel series is great. I have the XSi. My friend has owned the XTi and the T1i. If you want video and a few more megapixels, the T1i would be the way to go. I'd think it wouldn't be too tough to find a sale on them since the T2i is newer
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It was my pleasure!
Mmm, titles can be tricky things are a while! Dx But I'm glad you were able to think of one as great as this one! =]
Aaaa interesting, thank you very much for the info! I will definitely keep looking further into it
And by the way as well, I've been looking more into your gallery and I have to say it is so amazing! It's very inspirational, at least to me XD, as well, and I absolutely just love it! Keep up your lovely work!!
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Yeah, you can shoot at ISO 1600 with a shutter of 30 seconds on the XSI, or at ISO 12800 on the T1i
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Ohhhh awesome! Thank you!
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=O FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! freaking legit!!
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Yeah, it was a good shoot
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I cant wait to see!!
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