Lightning is one of the most trickiest things to capture, trying to constantly adjust your camera settings, trying to decipher where the next strike might be and trying to avoid rain as much as possible.
These particular photos are done using a long exposure setting. The camera sits on a tripod, taking a photo in 30 seconds and hopefully you can capture what happens in that time frame.
You might even capture two or three strikes that happened in that 30 second period depending on how active the storm is.
In some cases, depending on how close a strike is, the photo can be blown out or what’s called over exposed, requiring you to constantly adjust the settings as the environment changes to get the right shot.
All the photos taken below, were shot in little to no light, with the camera pulling the light from the storms into the shots. No photos were stitched (meaning two photos put into one) they are all raw images of what was captured in a 30 second time frame.
They weren’t taken by sitting in a car, or holding a phone to the sky and screenshotting the video, they require hours of patience, time and a little knowledge.
Yesterday evening, it was a really good opportunity to capture these storms, that were rolling across New Brunswick. The flashes were vibrant from the shore in Black Rock and they seemed to be moving in a way you wouldn’t get rained on.
Myself and my good friend Ian captured the show, as storms got closer and closer, rolling across Advocate Harbour.
Being far enough away, we didn’t experience any rain, making it ideal to capture the event outside.
While monitoring it constantly, it eventually out of know-where, wrapped around us. One flash and a sudden bang happened so close, not even seconds later, it started pouring.
It then pushed its way into the valley floor bringing heavy rain, vibrant flashes and some roars of thunder!
We managed to get some really good shots, from Black Rock, Grafton, Rockland, Woodville & Brooklyn Corner, as the storm blew through the valley.
Torrential downpours came with it, some rain and lighting I haven’t seen since the 2023 West Hants Floods.
We covered the event from around roughly 9PM until 2AM this morning, when the weather eventually fizzled out.
There’s a thrill with this type of photography you’ll never understand, unless you dedicate yourself to it.
Adrian J.
Attached is the full gallery of photos captured yesterday evening into early this morning from various locations listed above.
