Monday, June 27, 2016

Lightning Photography with the Vellow FreeWave Stryker

While the evening sun is blazing outside right now, last night at this time was a totally different story. A line of thunderstorms was moving across the state just as it was getting dark here in Columbus. Coincidentally, I had recently taken advantage of a daily deal for a new photo gizmo that I read about in Moose Peterson's BT Journal, the Vello Freewave Stryker.  This device, which plugs into a camera's remote release port, allows the triggering of the camera when it detects a bolt of light. While any light can trigger the camera, it's designed as an automatic shutter trigger for lightning photography.

My favorite result from my first lightning session with the Vellow FreeWave Stryker
I set it up last evening as the first wave of storms had passed over.  Here in the city, it's nearly impossible to photograph lightning before it arrives, as the rain out in front of the storm prevents that.  However, if one waits until after the storm passes, the rain stops, and usually we are treated to a wonderful display of lightning on the back side of the storm.  Last night I was fortunate to have a storm that produced a copious amount of lightning, but one that was mild enough to be outside standing on our front porch for the duration.

I'm quite pleased with the image I came away with.  While it looks like this bolt of lightning was headed straight for our neighbor's home across the street, I can assure you that it was several miles away.

Have you tried lightning photography?  I'd be curious to learn about your favorite techniques.

-Tom

2 comments:

  1. I am going to look into this, tonight I tried with just camera and continuous shot, to capture the lightning in a great cloud formation. but alas, I wasn't able to achieve it.

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    1. Setting up your camera to shoot in continuous mode will also work- This system is great because it only take an picture when there is a flash of lightning. That means there is FAR less uninteresting images to go through. I love it!

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