lightning and other weather

Kerioak

Kerioak

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Following on from this thread I decided to make an attempt at creating lightning (and turning it into brushes) still need some more practice to make it thinner I think. Then it was suggested that some mist and snow was required, so ...........

cranes.jpg
 
I'd be up that crane in a heatbeat if they'd let me shoot from the top.
 
Get some photoshop brushes, I think Obsidian Dawn has some lightning ones.
 
Photodiva said:
Get some photoshop brushes, I think Obsidian Dawn has some lightning ones.
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I guess that means you don't like my first attempts :)

I prefer to make my own brushes then I can use them for anything, commercial or private, although I have bought some from Obsidian Dawn in the past
 
Kerioak said:
Not heard of the Shard so did a search for it - what a horrible website - dingy out of focus background, dark pictures , miniscule writing that is in a very difficult shade to read - don't they want people to know about it ?
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I'd not been to their website, but you're right. It is a very poor effort for such a spectacle! I still plan to visit though despite the daft prices.
 
Just a couple of comments (I wish I was artistic enough to do that, but I'm not :().

If you look at how lightning forms, you'll find that once it hits something attached to earth, it doesn't come back out - it certainly wouldn't dance along the side... Also, whilst lightning does branch, it isn't "fur" like and tends to be much less wiggly. Also, I don't think lightning peters out mid flash - it actually has to discharge with something so each lightning bolt needs to discharge into something (the middle one towards the ground does this in your edit).

Not trying to be clever, but these things spoil the effect for me. It could also be that it is the wrong photo for the effect - google "lightning building" and you'll see the stunning shots are much more widefield.
 
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Kerioak said:
I guess that means you don't like my first attempts :)

I prefer to make my own brushes then I can use them for anything, commercial or private, although I have bought some from Obsidian Dawn in the past
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry. I don't think your efforts, esp on the crane, that that realistic looking. It seems there's some fx like emboss going on. Lightning is difficult to capture in real life, never mind fake. Obsidian Dawn's brushes are free if not for commercial use, as far as I recall.
 
First efforts at anything are rarely brilliant but I was pleased with the progress so far - why does it have to look realistic - have you seen the sorts of threads and edits that go on in this section of the forum :D

Hi Kelly, yes, that was the one, miniscule grey writing - if they think it is so unimportant and uninteresting that they have to make print that small, I cannot see any point in enlarging it just to read it :D
 
Oh, I thought it was quite a good website. I'm regularly on it and exploring, can't wait for it to open

Back on topic though, I'm looking forward to seeing your next edits :)
 
Photodiva said:
Lightning is difficult to capture in real life, never mind fake.ll.
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Have you tried? Given the right set up its pretty easy... just set a camera on a tripod put on a widish lens, point in the general direction of a storm and take a few long exposures.

If you get a cheap timer you can set it to take, say a 30 sec exposure pause for a sec and then take another 30 sec, over and over.Wonder off for an hour or two and come back to your great lightning shots, sometimes you can get a couple of bolts in the same exposure.

If your really lazy you can just open a window and point the camera outside (as long as the rain isn't coming in)

If you get really serious you can lighting detectors to sit on your camera that fire when a bolt of lightning goes off.

Try and avoid trees though, they tend to blow about in the wind and don't look so good :(
 
At home there are too many trees around , would have to drive down to the coast or up on the downs probably to get a really clear view and by that time the storm would have gone. I did try the day I took the crane photo but the storm was somewhat close and not a time to be standing out on the roof :D
 
Kerioak said:
This was the last lightning version I did the other day
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IMHO, that's much better... If you can make the bit of the bolt that strikes the ground brighter compared to the other strands, I think it would look a lot better :)
 
arad85 said:
Here's my Get Out Of Jail Free card:
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Sorry, if you are artistic enough to comment you are artistic enough to try and make some lightning - you can always put it on a black background (which was actually how this image started out) :)

With an extra spark - the main hit was the other side of the bank so this is only the aura
weather3.jpg


Re Obsidian and other brushes - I never know if I am going to be using them commercially or not so is safest to get a licence or make my own where I can
 
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