Early morning thunderstorm, early May

I awoke to the sound of thunder, shortly before five. The sky looked particularly threatening, so I grabbed my camera and rushed outside to capture the impending storm (below). It had been a hot night up to now, but the temperature suddenly plunged.

The dawn had approached, the sun was rising behind me and the sky was no longer dark, it would be difficult to photograph lightning as the necessary exposure time (at 100 ISO, f22) was short - a mere three seconds, not the 30+ seconds you can do at night. So - would I be lucky enough to capture a flash while the shutter was open at random?

Well, the storm was so intense - I did - below. Perfect! Open shutter - one, two, FLASH, three, shutter closes. On a tripod, of course.

Below: and again! Open shutter, one, FLASH, two, three, shutter closes. Digital photography allows you to validate the result immediately after taking the shot, a boon to the weather photographer who can alter settings accordingly.

The storm was accompanied by a short burst of hail, drumming on the roof and temporarily carpeting the lawn. The hail had done for the beautiful blossom on the fruit trees; after it had passed on the blossom was lying sodden and lifeless under the trees. Within quarter of an hour the storm had moved on; the sun rose, the day looked to be set fair. Soon clouds gathered from the west, however, changeable was the final outcome.

This time last year:
Men at work

This time two years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time three years ago:
Making plans for Jeziorki: Hołubcowa bis

This time four years ago:
The stirring sight of sunset

This time five years ago:
Blessed rain - after two dry weeks

Stormclouds are raging all around my door

Coming back from town with Moni last night, we could see over Wiścigi what looked like a massive fireworks display; as we headed south past the racetrack, it turned out to me an electrical storm of significant magnitude sweeping westwards across the southern horizon.

Time to get camera on tripod, set shutter to 'B', aperture to f 5.6, ISO to 100, snap and wait. Wait for the Big Flash. Then release shutter, and repeat. Select best image (above) - no need for Photoshop (other than correcting verticals) and there we go.

The storm passed by without too much water on Jeziorki; I guess Góra Kalwaria and Pruszków would have got a drenching. More expected today (I hope it will not interfere with my planned bike ride).

It is unusual to experience such storms in mid-May; they are a regular occurrence in July and August. Here's one in late June 2009 and then of course there was the famous Corpus Christi storm of early June last year.

This time last year:
Floods endanger Warsaw

This time two years ago:
Why Poland cannot afford the Grosz

This time three years ago:
Slow train from Zakopane to Kraków

This time four years ago:
The year's most beautiful day?

August storm

This morning's storm was like the one that passed over Jeziorki on Monday 3 August, kicking off just before 4:00am, intense in the density of lightning discharges. Today's storm, however, did not bring so much rain or hail with it. The above photo, an exposure of 26 seconds, captured no fewer than six separate flashes. The central flash is amazingly complex (click on photo to enlarge).

My recipe for successful flash photography: Set up camera on sturdy tripod. Set exposure mode to Manual, shutter to 'B' ['bulb'] setting. ISO 100, f5.6. Manually set focus to infinity. Switch off Long Exposure Noise Reduction if you have it (doesn't do much, but wastes time and battery power). Point at sky where most action is taking place, and depress shutter. Hold it open - wait, wait, catch a flash, a second one... the further away the flashes, the more of them you'll need to illuminate the sky.

Late June lightning

The new tripod proves itself in extreme conditions. At half past ten on the last day of June, we were in the middle of a most terrifying/exciting thunderstorm, which passed over Jeziorki. Two exposures make up the above image; the first was lit up by lightning from the north of us, which illuminated the estate like studio lights. The second exposure, of the sky to the south of us, caught two flashes. The tripod was so stable that the sky from the second photo could be superimposed upon the foreground of the first. And I must say, I'm rather pleased with the result.

Stormy Sunday

What a corker! A top-notch electrical storm passed through Jeziorki this evening, time to hone my lightning-catching photo techniques... I took many but only two were any good. Rather than fix an exposure time for an arbitrary 30 seconds, I set the exposure for 'bulb', aperture for f6.3 and waited for a strike. Some waits were longer than others. Without a screw-in fixture in the shutter button for a release cable, some pics came out blurred.

Both good pics were taken from my bedroom window and show lightning strikes over the Las Kabacki forest across ul. Sarabandy. The storm, having calmed down, is coming back, time to upload these pics to the blog, switch off and disconnect computer from mains, and rush upstairs to get some more shots!


...And back again, the storm having passed off to the north east of Warsaw. In the meanwhile, I managed to catch this one (left) as the storm made its second pass over Jeziorki. Note the colour of the lightning has changed from violet to red.

Waiting for the summer rain

What a magnificent storm passed over Warsaw this evening! Just the thing to clear the hot, sticky air. Sadly, from a photographic point of view, it was too early - too much daylight still around - so despite catching up to five flashes in a single 30 second exposure, the contrast was too weak. Still, the photo above captured at least two distinct flashes.

The storm front rolled on to the east; as it passed it in its place left a magnificent fiery post-sunset sky (below).

Stormy summer night

Catching a lightning strike on a still camera is not easy. The exposure (30 seconds at f11, 200 ISO) means you point your camera where you hope the lightning will flash - and wait. I took a total of eight exposures to catch this strike, a modest one. The remaining seven registered nothing - despite the flashes going off at an average rate of one a minute. There are some good pointers as to photographing thunderstorms on this website. Photo above taken on 2 July at 23:37 CET.

[UPDATE: I no longer use 30 seconds, but BULB, keeping the shutter open until enough lightning strikes have registered. 100 ISO, f8]