Awesome Shot From 2019 Oshkosh

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MIflyer

1st Lieutenant
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11,908
May 30, 2011
Cape Canaveral
SANov17T-storm74-174.jpg
 
I don't know the techniques are used to achieve photos like this but I've seen many similar ones. Not a fan.
 
Hello all,

Sometimes, I pretend to take photos...

The OP shot above is not mine. I do not believe that it is significantly photoshopped (I think it may have had some levels boosted to make it pop a bit more, but that it just my opinion). There is often thunderstorm activity during Oshkosh, and 2019 was no exception. Saturday night had a particularly active cell to the south. That style of image can be achieved by setting up your camera on a tripod (or other sold object) with a long(ish) exposure and hoping for the best. Since the lightning is bright, the few hundredths of a second it flashes, it leaves a a pretty good impression. Some luck is involved, but having patience (which I do not) and knowing your camera gear can go a long way.

The image below I did take, and it gives you some idea of the cell moving through earlier Saturday evening.
169581606.Eee9wLUf.WJP_3148copy.jpg
 
Yes, I can see how to take that shot. Use a tripod, set it up with a long exposure, and start snapping away. If you have a motor drive fire it up..

Now, that would be with a 35MM film camera. I have no idea how I would do it with a modern 14 megapixel digital camera. My latest digital camera does not even have the instructions to set the date in the manual; you have to get out the instructional CD to figure out how to do that.

Back when I was learning how to use a 35MM camera I sort of knew what I was doing, to the point I could guess at the proper settings for even an unfamiliar camera. Now, using digital, I just bang away and hope something useful comes out.
 
I grew up on 35mm (to the point of using a range-finder type 1950s-era German camera with a separate hand-held exposure meter for 2 years before my 9th-grade school-sponsored photography class the summer of 1977).
I still have my Nikon FM - the only thing electrically-powered is the exposure meter.

Yes, this does look like it was 35mm, shot with a color-rich film - different film lines produced different color balances and intensity, Ektachrome (slide film) tended to be slightly bluish, Fujichrome (also slide film) tended to emphasize greens, Kodachrome (another slide) produced brighter colors across the spectrum than the cameraman saw when the image was taken.


Digital cameras are certainly capable of timed exposures... my Canon SX-40HX has an easily-set exposure timer, which I used to great effect during the 2017 solar eclipse (I was in the totality path, outside Howe Idaho). I have also used it for night shots of the moon through wildfire smoke outside Colorado Springs, Colo in July 2013.
 

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