Photo Critique Club

[mdees88]

I've a question: How do I get a good photo of lightning? I've got a mirrorless camera.

You photograph it like you would shoot a time-lapse. You need to use an intervalometer (some cameras have them built in) and set it to continuously shoot long exposure photos.

Shoot in manual with a low iso, aperture around F8, and a shutter speed around 10-20 seconds (for shooting at night). Manual focus on an object far away. Set your interval 1 second longer than your shutter speed and start shooting. It will keep shooting photos, then when lightning pops during your ~10 second exposure you will get a picture of it.

 

[Gill-b]

You are welcome to edit these in any way you see fit.

and if anyone had ideas of how to improve them, or, if I was to return to this place with my camera, have suggestions on how to take a better picture of it.

Hellooooo

I found this an interesting 'case' to explore, so thank you, Lacy, for granting me the opportunity to 'break down' your photographs in order to help improve my own photography along the way, so please do not see this as any form of criticism but rather my own opinions while studying your photographs.

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The things that caught my eye on the original #1 photograph were not things that pleased but rather things that distracted my eye.

(1) The first being the large open space in the sky between the poles, which I have marked with a large white circle (and I will hopefully be able to explain why further on in this post).

(2) The second being the curving tyre track on the road, which I have marked with the smaller white circle.

(3) The last being the angle (1.6 degrees) of all of the poles in the distance, which I have marked with the white line.

Lacy Duckwing - road 1a.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

So I began my experimenting by straightening the angles of all the poles, including the one in the foreground; and then I cropped the image, placing the focal point (the road on the horizon) in the center. I also gave the sky more space and therefore more dramatic prominence.

Lacy Duckwing - road 1b.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

I then experimented with light and colour… (totally for my own indulgence)

Lacy Duckwing - road 1c.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Shooooo, how do I explain my next step? mmmmmh… Okay, here goes…

The human brain likes patterns, so when photographing objects that create a pattern, I think it is important to try as best as possible to keep the pattern flowing throughout the image. A break in the pattern can be distracting to the eye, and therefore the brain.

I experimented by roughly adding a copy of the foreground pole into the line of poles to remove the break in the pattern made by its absence… eeeeek… I hope this makes sense to you.
This new 'flow' of the poles hopefully better draws the eye to the focal point?

Lacy Duckwing - road 1d.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Unfortunately, I do not know if it is possible to create this pattern when photographing the real life scene? Maybe try experimenting by moving further back from the closest pole? Or moving to the left side of the road? I am not sure. Maybe others can suggest something to try?

Finally, I just made a quick edit to remove the curving track on the road.

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I experimented with the #2 photograph very much the same as I did with the #1. My only new comment is that I personally find it difficult to "see" the focal point on the original image (to know what the focal point is), so I tried to create a focal point by changing the lighting? Here are the results of my experiments…

Lacy Duckwing - road 2a.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2b.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2c.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2d.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Hellooooo

I found this an interesting 'case' to explore, so thank you, Lacy, for granting me the opportunity to 'break down' your photographs in order to help improve my own photography along the way, so please do not see this as any form of criticism but rather my own opinions while studying your photographs.

---------

The things that caught my eye on the original #1 photograph were not things that pleased but rather things that distracted my eye.

(1) The first being the large open space in the sky between the poles, which I have marked with a large white circle (and I will hopefully be able to explain why further on in this post).

(2) The second being the curving tyre track on the road, which I have marked with the smaller white circle.

(3) The last being the angle (1.6 degrees) of all of the poles in the distance, which I have marked with the white line.

Lacy Duckwing - road 1a.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

So I began my experimenting by straightening the angles of all the poles, including the one in the foreground; and then I cropped the image, placing the focal point (the road on the horizon) in the center. I also gave the sky more space and therefore more dramatic prominence.

Lacy Duckwing - road 1b.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

I then experimented with light and colour… (totally for my own indulgence)

Lacy Duckwing - road 1c.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Shooooo, how do I explain my next step? mmmmmh… Okay, here goes…

The human brain likes patterns, so when photographing objects that create a pattern, I think it is important to try as best as possible to keep the pattern flowing throughout the image. A break in the pattern can be distracting to the eye, and therefore the brain.

I experimented by roughly adding a copy of the foreground pole into the line of poles to remove the break in the pattern made by its absence… eeeeek… I hope this makes sense to you.
This new 'flow' of the poles hopefully better draws the eye to the focal point?

Lacy Duckwing - road 1d.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Unfortunately, I do not know if it is possible to create this pattern when photographing the real life scene? Maybe try experimenting by moving further back from the closest pole? Or moving to the left side of the road? I am not sure. Maybe others can suggest something to try?

Finally, I just made a quick edit to remove the curving track on the road.

---------

I experimented with the #2 photograph very much the same as I did with the #1. My only new comment is that I personally find it difficult to "see" the focal point on the original image (to know what the focal point is), so I tried to create a focal point by changing the lighting? Here are the results of my experiments…

Lacy Duckwing - road 2a.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2b.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2c.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Lacy Duckwing - road 2d.jpg

• Gill-b
• Jul 15, 2025

Wow, thank you for all of this! I'm amazed by how your edits brought the pictures so much to life, especially on my first picture. Now I'm really wanting to go back to this place to try getting better pictures with my Canon. The patterns is something that should be easy for me to remember (I personally love patterns), though I'm a bit surprised I haven't heard about that in photography yet. It totally makes sense though! I'm wondering if I can get a next time, maybe if I go up toward the power lines if that would help? Only thing is it might take away from the length of the road.

Again, thank you so much for your response!

 

[Gill-b]

I'm wondering if I can get a next time, maybe if I go up toward the power lines if that would help? Only thing is it might take away from the length of the road.

I thought that too. It is a difficult one to figure out. **me pondering**

 

[azurbanclucker]

You photograph it like you would shoot a time-lapse. You need to use an intervalometer (some cameras have them built in) and set it to continuously shoot long exposure photos.

Shoot in manual with a low iso, aperture around F8, and a shutter speed around 10-20 seconds (for shooting at night). Manual focus on an object far away. Set your interval 1 second longer than your shutter speed and start shooting. It will keep shooting photos, then when lightning pops during your ~10 second exposure you will get a picture of it.

You don't NEED an intervalometer, a remtr trigger button will also do the trick.

but an intervalometer sure helps, and they're CHEAP.

I use this one, they have a canon one as well at that price.
https://www.amazon.com/JJC-Interval...HO6JJDA&sprefix=intervalo,aps,198&sr=8-3&th=1

Everything else above, "yes, this"

It's a bit of trial and error, and every storm will have slight tweaks to the formula. f/8 and 10 sec at ISO 100 is a solid place to start. I generally run 5 sec f/8 iso 100 for single shots, and 30 sec f/10 for multiples. Really depends on the storm and how active it is.

Daytime is a different story. It's extremely hard without an intervalometer and / or a lightinng trigger because you can't do long exposures well without some filters.

 

[OnlySympathy]

This is one of the better indoor pictures I’ve taken in a while… thoughts?

 

[CarpCharacin]

A picture I took of a wolf spider last month. I thought this one was cool since the front eyes are in focus.

I also saw a tarantula outside several days ago (a female Aphonopelma iodius, I think), which was cool. I hadn't seen one since August 2023, and I think I had only seen males previously. I find the tarantulas less frightening than wolf spiders, even though they're larger (though I still wouldn't want to hold one).

And another wolf spider, one with babies, which I saw the same night as the tarantula.

I've found the wolf spiders scary. They can move a lot faster than tarantulas.

 

[iwltfum]

A picture I took of a wolf spider last month. I thought this one was cool since the front eyes are in focus.
View attachment 4180057
I also saw a tarantula outside several days ago (a female Aphonopelma iodius, I think), which was cool. I hadn't seen one since August 2023, and I think I had only seen males previously. I find the tarantulas less frightening than wolf spiders, even though they're larger (though I still wouldn't want to hold one).
View attachment 4180058
View attachment 4180059
And another wolf spider, one with babies, which I saw the same night as the tarantula.
View attachment 4180060
I've found the wolf spiders scary. They can move a lot faster than tarantulas.

Cool pictures! Did you take these with a macro lens?

 

[CarpCharacin]

Cool pictures! Did you take these with a macro lens?

No, I just used my phone camera (a Pixel 7). The wolf spiders get fairly large, and I zoomed in 2x. I think with 2x zoom there isn't much of a loss of image quality, since the camera sensor is 50mp but saved images are always 12.5mp.

 

[CarpCharacin]

One with a bug (a cockroach I think) I saw last year.