Eloquent Images by Gary Hart
Insight, information, and inspiration for the inquisitive nature photographer
Hurry up and wait
Diagonal Lightning Strike, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon
Sony a7R II
Sony/Zeiss 24-70
1/13 second
F/11
ISO 50
Photographing lightning is about 5 percent pandemonium, and 95 percent arms folded, toe-tapping, just plain standing around. A typical lightning shoot starts with a lot of waiting for the storm to develop and trying to anticipate the best (and safest) vantage point. But with the first bolt often comes the insight that you anticipated wrong and: 1) The lightning is way over there; or 2) The lightning is right here (!). What generally ensues is a Keystone Cops frenzy of camera bag flinging, tire screeching, gear tossing, tripod expanding, camera cursing, Lightning Trigger fumbling bedlam. Then it’s more waiting. And waiting. And waiting….
In many ways the waiting part is a lot like fishing—except these fish have the ability to strike you dead without warning. And a strike is no guarantee that you’ve landed something—that assurance won’t come until you review your images. Unfortunately, when a Lightning Trigger is attached, LCD reviews are disabled. But to avoid missing the next one, I’ve learned to resist the temptation to turn off my Lightning Trigger and check after every bolt (like pulling the line from the water every few minutes to see if the worm’s still there).
About this image
With clear skies in the forecast, Don Smith and I started last Sunday with plans to recover from the preceding day’s 12 hour drive to the Grand Canyon, and to recharge for our Grand Canyon Monsoon workshop that started Monday. But walking outside after lunch, dark clouds building overhead sent us racing up to the rim (a 15 minute drive) to see what was going on (see Keystone Cops frenzy reference above).
Starting at Grand View, we quickly set up our tripods, cameras, and Lightning Triggers and aimed toward promising clouds up the canyon. But within 10 minutes the clouds overhead darkened; when they started pelting us with hail, we retreated to the car. Since the storm appeared to be moving east-to-west, we drove east to get on the back side of it, eventually ending up at Lipan Point (one of our favorite spots).
We set up west of the Lipan vista, enjoying relative peace and quiet away from the summer swarm. The cell that had chased us from Grand View was diminishing, so much so that we needed sunscreen when we started, but we could see an even more impressive cell was moving up from the south. Meanwhile, the clouds in the canyon were spectacular, but all the lightning was firing above the flat, scrub pine plain to the south. Our hope was that it would reach the canyon in our viewfinders before reaching us.
Of course I wanted lightning firing into the canyon, but at first I hedged my bets and composed wide enough to include the less aesthetically pleasing evergreen forest. As the rain moved across the canyon to our west, our blue sky had started to give way to darkening clouds, and distant thunder rolled through the afternoon stillness.
This was my first lighting shoot (and just my second overall) with my brand new Sony a7R II, so I was quite anxious to test its lightning capture capability. Speed is of the essence with lightning, and the faster the shutter responds to a click command, the better the chances of capturing it. My Canon 5D III had done the job in the past, but I knew I missed a number of strikes due to its only mediocre shutter lag.
The a7R II, like the a7S and a6000 (but not the a7R), has an electronic front curtain shutter that drastically shrinks shutter lag, so in theory its performance would rival the a7S and a6000, both of which I’d already succeeded with. That morning I’d tested the a7R II against the a7S and found its response identical, but you never know for sure until you try. (The other part of this equation is a good lightning sensor, and the only one I’ve seen work to my satisfaction is the Lightning Trigger from Stepping Stone Products.)
That afternoon we enjoyed about a half hour of quality shooting before the storm moved too close for comfort. In that span I saw at least a half dozen canyon strikes; the new camera captured most (all?) of them. The one you see here was from early in the show—subsequent strikes were further north (right) before petering out.
Read more about lightning photography, and see a gallery of lightning captures, on my Lightning Photography photo tips page.
Eloquent Images by Gary Hart 
Gary
Exquisite but merely commensurate with your usual quality !!! Please tell me you haven’t crossed over to the “dark side ” of HDR
Or does your new Sony capture this scene ??
Regards
Outstanding recording of a moment in creation. With all the billions of things going on in our universe, you recorded something very special ! -RG
I thoroughly enjoy your stories and your lightning images, Gary. This one is fascinating– the light is gorgeous and it almost looks like the lighting is striking upward! Thanks for the time you take in explaining about equipment and choosing locations.
HURRY UP AND WAIT – answers my question regarding the detail and sharpness of the Sony/Zeiss 24-70 f-4 performance with the A7rII body. Incredible job of detail and nice work Gary! -RG
Thanks, Rita. Yeah, I’ve heard some people complain about the 24-70, but I find it sharper than my Canon L glass.
Pandemonium with lightening in the Canyon. I’ll be on North Rim Sept 17 & 18. Looking forward to more of the same.
Besides enjoying the gorgeous picture of a lightning strike in Grand Canyon and all the beauty that includes, I think your first paragraph is one of the most humorous I have ever read. I laughed so hard at the wording and the fact that all the Keystone Cop comparison was so perfect. Great photographic talent, great sense of humor and a wonderful writing style. Thank you for all of the above, >
Great work, Gary. Fabulous story, too. 🙂
Another gorgeous image. I’m following your review of the 7R II with much interest. Thanks for the hard work!