Capturing Lightning During the Day!
by Don Smith
Mother Nature's wrath has always held my fascination. It started as a boy when my parents used to take my sisters and me to the Sierra Mountains at various times throughout the year. Heavy snows in the winter, torrential spring rains and summer thunderstorms (with clasps of thunder so loud it would make my ears hurt) all alerted my senses to the powerful force of weather.
When I began to get serious about my landscape photography, it was only natural that I seek out ways to capture these wrathful moments (I'm the first out the door when the weather turns nasty). I came across an article in National Geographic where the photographer (whose name unfortunately escapes me) was assigned to shoot Arizona's monsoon season. The first three double-truck spreads of the article held amazing images of a daytime lightning storm over the north rim of the Grand Canyon. My first thought was, "how in the hell did he get these pictures?" I remembered seeing an ad in Outdoor Photographer Magazine about some product that allowed one to capture lightning. I quickly found the ad, went to the company's website, and read about this amazing product called the Lightning Trigger.
I remember thinking how cool it would be to have that device in my bag, but then woke up to reality when I thought, "hey, you live in a central California coastal valley; how often do you see lightning?" Then two summers previous, I found myself atop the Summit Peak of the Patriarch Grove in the White Mountains when out of nowhere a vigorous thunderstorm enveloped me. I was stuck, and decided to ride it out on the peak. Out to the east, a beautiful double-rainbow appeared with lightning flashing on both sides. Try as I might, I soon discovered there was no way to adequately capture daytime lightning. I remember returning to our condo in Mammoth Mountain and describing this incredible sight to my wife Beri. She has always been my number one supporter, and she simply said, "when we get home, I want you to order the Lightning Trigger."
Truth be told, another year would pass before I finally decided to part with my $400 and order the device. I was told it takes up to 30 days for the unit to be built and have the remote plug adapted to my Canon 1DsMKII camera. My family and I were leaving for two weeks in Hawaii (Kauai and the Big Island) where I felt I would certainly have the opportunity to use the device. Unfortunately, 17 days on both Islands produced not a single bolt of lightning - the Islands' were experiencing a drought!
Eleven more months elapsed before finally getting an opportunity to test the device - and in all places - 10 minutes from my home! Late last month a rare summer thunderstorm rolled in off the Pacific Ocean. The downside of these storms (which produced dry lightning) were they basically set the state of California on fire (1200-plus wildfires at last count). I was in my home office with my friend Nick when my youngest son Aaron called to tell me there was a lightning storm happening and I should grab my cameras. I quickly put my gear together while Beri, Aaron and my other son Rob swung by to pick me up. I had Beri drive to a spot east of our home that overlooked most of the southern Santa Clara Valley. Having never used the device (which simply attaches to your camera's hot shoe and plugs into its remote terminal), I was rusty on just what settings to use. It was a bit unnerving setting up the camera/tripod while listening to a clasp of thunder erupt overhead. I opted to go very wide with my 16-35mm set near 20mm. Once set, I got back into the car and could hear the device trigger the camera but a quick check of the LCD showed no lightning was captured. After 20 minutes, the storm seemed to be dying out, thus we returned with nothing to show for our efforts. I reread the instructions and as fate would have it, got a second shot!
The local weather report indicated another cell was traversing across the southern Santa Cruz Mountains and heading my direction. This time, armed with knowledge on how to properly use the trigger, I headed back out and could see the western sky alive with various bolts. I headed for the first open rise I could find, set up, and waited for the cell to draw nearer. According to the instruction sheet, 1/4 to 1/8 shutter speeds were recommended in TV mode. Therein lies a big problem - this is daytime - how does one prevent overexposure? Even with the lens' smallest aperture of f/22 I was still 5 stops overexposed. I decided to drop my ISO from 100 to 50, which would knock another stop off the equation. I thought about a polarizer (reducing exposure another 2 stops) but then decided I would need my Singh-Ray Variable Neutral Density filter which would allow me to dial in between -2 to -8 stops of exposure reduction. I settled on -4, fired a test shot, and felt comfortable I had the proper exposure. All I needed was to figure out where to set the frame.
The instruction sheet was not specific here. There were two references. One said a zoom range of 28mm - 200mm would work, another said somewhere around 70mm produced good results. I started at about 80mm and guessed at where the next bolt would strike. I could hear the camera fire and was excited that I could be getting something. After about 5 strikes, I checked my LCD and was dismayed that I had not captured a single strike, thus I decided to zoom wider (for the image below, I went to 43mm and discovered that the camera picked f/14, due to darkening skies). This time I aimed further ahead of where I thought the cell was tracking and got lucky! The image below is the best of three captures I would get within the next 5 minutes after making the adjustments. I was able to include a broad sweep of the Diablo Range with Santa Ana Peak appearing towards the far right. That is a hay field in front of me with a small vineyard appearing just beyond. I really liked how the hay turned a golden hue! The skies look like something one would see in the midwest, not California.
Admittedly, capturing daytime lightning is both exhilarating and somewhat scary. I've read the facts about lightning safety and there is no way one is safe when setting up a camera/tripod in a thunderstorm - you are taking a major risk!. Are the risks worth the rewards? Only you can be the judge. If you do decide to venture out into a storm, please head these following warnings from the NOAA / National Weather Service and the National Lightning Safety Institute:
1.) No place outside is safe near thunderstorms.
2.) Use the 30-30 Rule: If the time between lightning and thunder is 30 seconds or less, go to a safer location. Every 5 seconds elapsed is roughly 1 mile, but lightning is random and can jump up to 7 miles ahead of the last visible strike.
3.) Wait at least 30 minutes after hearing the last thunder before leaving your location
4.) Avoid open fields or elevated places
5.) Do not go under a tree or other tall isolated object.
6.) Move away from water
7.) Avoid all metal objects including electric wires, fences, machinery, power tools, etc.
8.) Avoid going under canopies or any other partially enclosed structure.
9.) You are only safe in a car if all windows are shut and don't touch any conducting path leading outside (rubber tires DO NOT protect you - it is the car's metal shell)
10.) If outside, crouch down, put feet together, and place hands over ears to minimize the hearing damage from thunder.
11.) Avoid proximity to others (stay at least 15 feet away).
For many of you who live in lightning prone areas, I'm sure you are aware of all these rules. For the rest of us, it's a great refresher!
I want to state that my one experience with the Lightning Trigger by no means qualifies me as an expert. I know there are some very talented photographers who make their living capturing lightning. I would be interested in hearing from some of you who have had more experience with this product. My success rate was about 50% (assuming I had the camera pointed in the right direction). Any tips you can send my way I will gladly add to this article (and give you credit).
For those of you interested in learning more about the Lightning Trigger, it is made by a company called Stepping Stone Products L.L.C. Please click here: Lightning Trigger