Hi Mathew,

Nice photo, I lived very close to you there for about a week.

Just one suggestion, you obviously have the camera supported (ie a tripod I guess), therefore it might be a good idea to drop the ISO down to 100 or 200. Should give a nicer image with less noise.

I know, but the ISO was on automatic. It ended up like that way.

Hi, good tip, get it off Auto, even the P mode is much better. Keep the ISO at 100 until you feel the need to experiment. I never take anything with an ISO over 100, even night time shots.

Next challenge as others have said is to start using RAW mode instead of JPG's.

I thought JPEG is more appropriate use of professional photography these days? Hence the quality.

Ok no worries, keeping the ISO at around 100ish.

You thought wrong.

At least I going to change that on my settings next time I use the camera

This camera is really making me more fun than the previous one!

JPEG is COMPRESSED and if you try and edit that further, you will simply butcher the photo unless it is perfect from the word go. But that is very rare.

I used to shoot JPEG as well, but now shoot RAW. I cannot stress enough that you must always shoot in RAW if you want to be serious about your photography. Save the happy snaps for your phone camera if you don't want much fuss for a quick pic.

But with lightning especially, something I consider my strength in photography, I ALWAYS use BULB. Especially so, when the lightning is frequent and close. BULB lets YOU control the camera...but if you have it locked in at 20 10 or 30 seconds for example, once you press that button on your cable release, you can't do anything. With BULB, you control the exposure, the noise, EVERYTHING. If you get a bolt 1 second after you expose the pic, you may not want another bolt in that frame so with BULB you can close the shutter off. Similarly if you want many bolts and you have BULB, you can do so with a much longer exposure. It just gives you complete control. Always shoot ISO 100 to minimise noise, especially with exposures over 30 seconds. I generally try and keep mine between 15-35seconds on average depending on the frequency and brightness. Sometimes with bright bolts in rainshafts or near rain, you might only need a few seconds and the whole scene is bright. So BULB BULB BULB all the way if you want lightning shots.

You can get a decent cable release online these days for as little as about $3.50, that is what I paid for mine when my canon one became frayed from too much use (you get that in Darwin).

With regards to aperture, generally I find between f/5.6 and f/7.1 yields my best results, but for distant bolts, down to f/2.8 if your lens can do so is good. Also, for those really close and bright ones as tight as f/14-f/18 can be required. But that is rare.

TS

I have to disagree strongly about using RAW, especially for someone starting out on a DSLR. I think using RAW first up is a bad-bad mistake. Sure it’s great for Pro’s & experienced enthusiasts to tweak and massage their image to a final printable and publishable stage. But for a 19yo Uni student on his first DSLR, it’s pointless, and only restricts that person from learning about the real skills of capturing light through a lens on a camera.

Often people who promote RAW to newbies actually know very little about photography and everything about photo editing. To me photography is about capturing an image on the camera, not snapping a raw data file any which way any time of the day willy-nilly then turn that into a great pic with 9 hours of Photoshop work. That is not photography, that’s witchcraft.

I think it’s better to shoot in JPG first, learn what the camera is doing, understand how that differs from what you envisaged the shot to be, make changes till you get near the result you wanted , develop an eye for lighting, contrast and composition, once you get to a stage where you are mostly happy with the JPGs you are producing straight out of the camera, then switch to RAW and put the icing on the cake with adjustments in processing software. Doing that will make you a better photographer at the end of the day. It’s far easier to turn a great image into a masterpiece than turn garbage into art.

To use an analogy; you have to learn to walk before you can run. Honestly shooting RAW, and post processing is like running flat out in a 800mm final.

I can't put off the auto ISO because it changes the aperture and contrast settings. As well Can't change to RAW because each images going to reduce storage space dramatically and cause massive download usage on the computer.

Here are following pictures from Castle Hill tonight in Townsville.





















[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...690601031_n.jpg[/img]

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...108777413_n.jpg[/img]

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hph...351580979_n.jpg[/img]

Contrast settings? Not sure what you're talking about there. What mode are you using? If you're shooting in Av mode (the only mode you really need, apart from manual on the odd occasion), changing the ISO should only effect the shutter speed.
And yeah, You'll need a decent size sd card if you wanna shoot raw.

Hi Matt,

Some tips for the photos above:

- Set the ISO to 100 or 200
- Set to manual and set aperture to somewhere between f8 to f11 (as a rough guide)
- Set shutter speed to get the exposure right (probably going to be > 5 seconds in low light)
- Use a tripod!! If you are using a tripod, learn how to use it better.

Your camera can provide far sharper images if you stabilise your camera. This is absolutely vital in low light. I will agree with Sandfly, worry about raw vs jpeg later.

Matt, you have two of the best photographic technicians for weather photography as seen on this forum, for their knowledge and years of experience, Listen to what they say and I am sure from the days of slide film, which is as close to Raw Media as you can get , one had to learn to get your settings right or would cost you a lot of money in pre + maybe Drum scanning and printing, Digital Cameras offer the best of all ,
Raw, Jpeg, etc, so please use the best of it you can. I get so many clients come to me and want a print say around 1500 x 900 on canvas and its the most amazing photograph but the file is to small because its a jpeg and I cannot retrieve all the file information to get the print that big. A raw file I have room to interpolate to whatever the client wants .. so shoot raw + download more,

Thanks for great tips. I try to change the settings and that. I will change to RAW once I buy the larger memory card. They seem rather expensive!!

BTW I always set on manual, never the others.

The problem with shooting full manual, especially when you're starting out is you can end up spending quite a bit of time trying to get the overall exposure right. That's why I'm such a big fan of Av mode, lock in your ISO, adjust the aperture to suit what you're shooting (depth of field, quickly changing light if shooting storms etc.) then let the camera worry about how long the shutter needs to be open.

If you're serious about getting the most out of your DSLR, you should also Google "the exposure triangle". Once you wrap your head around that you'll be set.

Another VERY important tip for lightning is to make sure you get your focus SPOT ON. There is nothing more frustrating and painful than thinking you have some great shots only to get them on your computer and they are 'soft' or out of focus. Before sunset I ensure I focus on something as distant as possible zoomed in as much as possible for whatever lens I have. Usually it is a distant cloud or horizon point and I make sure I use AF (Autofocus) not MF (Manual Focus). Over the years. This is less important in the day but MORE important at night.

Once it is dark and you have to focus again, try your best to AF on a DISTANT (>5km if poss) light. Zoom in and try and get the centre focus point (the best one) to lock focus on that light by half-pressing multpiple times. This is important and don't be afraid to spend time doing this rather than rushing to set up. If the moon is out then that is my preferred option, especially when you are out in the sticks with no artificial light sources. If you do happen to find yourself out in the dark, I recommend that you mark a spot on your lens where the infinity marker is from a known focused point in the day and then go straight to that at night.

I do my best to avoid manually focusing on a star or a 'soft' light source in the dark because as good as the human eye is, it isn't as good as the cameras. Everytime I have manually focused on something distant at night I have had more blurry and soft shots than compared to autofocusing on the same distant light source. If you have a good lens and lens, trust it.

TS

You don't have an infinity marker on your camera, TS?

I agree with this, I do the majority of my photography with the Av mode and use exposure compensation to adjust if needed. I prefer manual in really low light (ie long exposures) though. Matt, probably worth looking into histograms to check your exposures too. Very useful tool though not something to worry too much about straight away.

Thanks for the tips Thunderstruck. So just clarifying this, if you were using a 18-55 mm lens, for example, you would focus at 55 mm and then go to the required focal length to take photos? I have been using the live view function recently for focusing (when using a tripod) and have found this very useful.

Look into that sometime as I place my hands on my camera

Yes I do, I have the Canon 17-40mm f/4 but for me just going to the marker is not good enough because focus varies with f-stops enough to cause slight softness...it's never quite ON infinity, usually a little to the left but how much really depends on what I am shooting. Finding the sweet spot definitely isn't a case of guessing where it should be.

TS