I tried to photograph lightning late last night during the first and second waves of some pretty hefty thunderstorms. Things did not go as planned, as the lightning became too unpredictable, thus too dangerous. I did get a shot of lightning over the city of Boston, from my perch along the Winthrop coastline. Dejected, I went home and then to bed. Just prior to bed, the weather radar on my trusty iPhone app., was showing a line of heavy storms bubbling-up near the Connecticut/Rhode Island border. These storms appeared to be growing and moving toward Boston. I was too tired and dejected to wait for them, so I wait to bed. Ninety minutes later, at approximately 2:30am, I was awakened by thunder. I noticed that the frequency of the lightning was impressive, with maybe 1 lightning bolt per every 5 seconds. I headed out again but was a bit too late, as I needed some time to get set up (with a tripod, etc,) and to get to my position (trying for a city of Boston skyline foreground). This storm was too fast and the heavy rain, as well, was not helping matters. Finally, thinking the storm was over, it was time to get home and go to bed. Then, my weather app. pointed to some regeneration of the lightning at the tail end, the Southwest end, of the storm. I set up my tripod, Canon EOS 1DX, cable release, and Canon 100-400mm II lens, setting it at 248mm, along the coast of Winthrop. I set the ISO to 50, and my exposure was 5 seconds at F5.6. I do not ever like to “fudge” a photo, so whenever the first burst happens, I then shutdown the camera, thus keeping it real with the one moment of impact. I pointed the camera toward Graves Light lighthouse, and I waited, and waited. Finally, at 3:18am this morning, four large lightning bolts, during a split-second cloudburst, appeared over the Boston Harbor landmark. This photo is almost full frame, as I cropped in from both sides and a little from the top. I have a bit of a too-tight scenario happening at the base of the photo because it was hard for me to tell where the lighthouse and horizon lines were due to the extreme darkness. I was happy nonetheless. Thanks for viewing my site.
Posts Tagged ‘thunderstorms’
More #Boston area lightning and cloud photos from Tuesday’s weather.
by markadmin Posted: Friday, 8/7/2015Four significant thunderstorms affected the Boston area Tuesday. That’s four separate opportunities for me to photograph lightning during, and then after, my shift as a Boston Herald photographer. I chase most of the thunderstorms that come our way. We in the Boston region experience an average of 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year, according to Wikipedia. A brilliant lightning storm was the first of these Tuesday events, striking during the morning commute. The thrust of the lightning seemed to be affecting South Boston to Quincy, before exiting out over Winthrop, and the open waters. I positioned myself in a safe place in Southie and set up my tripod. I was disappointed with the results. It seemed that every place I pointed my lens at, the lightning would be in a different spot, and then when I corrected to that spot, it would then strike where I had been pointing at earlier. I did, however, get a photo of lightning over Dorchester Heights/Telegraph Hill. The second storm roared out of the Littleton area and moved toward Beverly. I chose to speed toward Marblehead, as I wanted to try for lightning over the historic Abbott Hall. This venture was unsuccessful regarding lightning, however I did capture the ominous clouds exiting Marblehead neck. I then realized that the weather radar was showing a different storm, taking a more southerly track that appeared to be heading for Boston. I viewed the radar and chose East Boston as my best bet to capture lightning over the city. I arrived in Eastie and set up the tripod and started to shoot, framing the city’s Financial and Seaport Districts. This worked well, as in a flash of 1/8th of a second, two large and branching bolts appeared. I was using a Canon 100-400mm at F.6.4 and a 50 ISO speed. The last storm was exiting the region from between Deer Island and Quincy. I chose to turn the camera black and white for this photo. Below are my photos from Tuesday. Thanks for viewing.
![Lightning strikes in back of Southie's Telegraph Hill/Dorchester Height, during the first of 4 thunderstorms that affected the region on Tuesday.](https://i0.wp.com/www.pictureboston.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pblightning008.jpg?resize=600%2C365)
Above, lightning strikes in back of Southie’s Telegraph Hill/Dorchester Height, during the first of 4 thunderstorms that affected the region on Tuesday.
![A sailboat escapes the Marblehead lightning, choosing to come into port shortly after the storm.](https://i0.wp.com/www.pictureboston.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pblightning005.jpg?resize=600%2C409)
Above, a sailboat escapes the Marblehead lightning, choosing to come into port shortly after the storm.
![Lightning strikes over Boston's Financial and Seaport Districts during Tuesday afternoon's thunderstorm activity.](https://i0.wp.com/www.pictureboston.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pblightning001a.jpg?resize=574%2C600)
Above, lightning strikes over Boston’s Financial and Seaport Districts during Tuesday afternoon’s thunderstorm activity.
I photographed this departing airliner as lightning struck in front and to the west of it today. A fierce explosion of lightning bolts lit up the dark afternoon sky above eastern Massachusetts. See this in Saturday’s Herald.