How to SEE and PHOTOGRAPH Sprites!
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- Everything you need to know to see and photograph #Sprites and Jets. (And all other types of rare #TLE). After YEARS of attempts and sudden recent success it's time to share how I do it, even as I'm getting better at it myself.
Red sprites, Jellyfish sprites, Red jellyfish sprite, sprite lightning, sprite TLE.
00:00 Introduction and Premise
01:30 How to see Sprites (&Jets)
13:20 How to Photograph Sprites
23:40 In short...
What it's like to experience Naked Eye Sprites and messing around with photography: • Bright Jellyfish Red S...
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T3i Modification: • Canon T3i DSLR fixed a...
A7s3 Low light tests and Astrophotography: • Sony a7SIII Astrophoto... - Наука та технологія
Good grief I needed some type of guide like this, so thank you so much Michael! I wanted to start trying catching sprites last year but due to a general lack of ideal storms I had no luck. This year I already tried two times: the first storm didn’t do anything (was just a weak multicellular cluster) and I missed some on the second one because I gave up just before it started. Now with these informations I surely will have to change my strategies/gear a bit if and when (mostly because of money) I manage to and for now see what I can do with my normal, down to Earth Canon EOS 1200D standard 18-55mm which doesn’t go under an f3.5. I have to wait for the right storm because from here in northeastern Italy, people all over Europe had fun with our late evening/night thunderstorm complexes, while we really haven’t had a true chance so far this season. Now that the late season is upon us and the Mediterranean is boiling, we might have a couple of chances when the right system comes. Thank you so much again!
Let me know how it goes! It fascinates me that there seem to be TLE's over the Mediterranean as often as the American plains in spite of fewer storms and less lightning overall. Definitely try with the kit lens and see how it does, or get that cheap Canon 50mm go crazy.
@@scienceoutthere I definitely will! I just have to hope for the right storm because, equipment and settings aside, that's going to be the biggest challenge. Adding to that, northern Italy isn't really the best place to try due to limited space (obviously we don't have the infinite open, flat spaces that you guys have out there) so positioning is even more crucial and to make matters worse, northern Italy is one of the european areas with the highest amounts of light pollution. So yeah, it'll be pretty challenging but we'll see. And if anything happens, I'll share my experience!
@@federicopavan4793 Italy is the European Country with the most Lightning - Not so terrible. I'm trying to film Sprites from the UK haha... But will also be in Northern Italy (Lake Garda Garda reigon) in Summer though! All the best Federico.
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What a fabulous tutorial, thank you! About 45 mins drive away is a deep space radio telescope (location selected due to clarity of night sky and minimal interference) and a great view point about at about 6,000ft. Will give sprite catching a try this summer!
Welp. That answered all of my questions. Time to make it happen!
Thanks for share! great explanation! I'll try this with my t3i...
I just watched your video (05-02-22) and I went outside when a storm started up, I GOT A SPRITE!
Wooohooo! I got a few tonight as well
I'm pretty sure I saw one of the sprites with the naked eye when the storm was almost 300km away. A pretty severe storm. I had crystal clear sky above me all the way back then. Since then I was looking for materials about them. Thank you for the advices!
Thanks for your sharing!!!
Very well made and comprehensive guide, thank you for putting it together. I'll be trying this out during this year's storm season with my cheapo 50mm lens and unmodified DSLR, maybe even while shooting some space photos. Best of luck to you
Phenomenal video! As a photographer and storm chaser I can appreciate how much effort went into this, and you nailed every single aspect.
Thanks for this video! It was just what I was after!
the shirt most definitely helped with my understanding of what you are intending to convey, very informative & thanks 4 sharing!
This is awesome! Thanks for the in depth info. I’ve been looking for this information for years!
Thank you so much for go to such details into how to photograph a sprite. Best guide on the internet🎉🎉 Can't wait to get my first sprite now!
Best video on the subject so far.
For Sony a7 I recommend iso 800 due to iso variance. Regarding exposure remember the rule of 500 (500/focal length=max shutter speed in seconds) so you don’t get star trails.
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Great info. Thanks!!
Thanks for the information ! I plan to do more storm chasing this year and with this information I hope to catch some TLE's also.
I have been waiting for a video like this for tooooooooooooo long!!! Thanks my dude!
That's awesome! glad to help
@@scienceoutthere So, I have the A7II with the Tamron 28-75 mm lens. I am guessing that means a higher ISO then? Have you had success with sprites with this lens?
@@joeyprom5641 I have the 24-70 tamron and I’ve caught a couple with it. Just barely though.
@@scienceoutthere oof! Just too much noise?
@@joeyprom5641 Yeah there’s more noise because of the high ISO but mostly I could just tell there was missing detail. But had I put it on the a7s body instead maybe it would have turned out better? My advice is just try!
Very cool :D thanks for sharing this!
That was really useful and to the point, thank you very very much!
Great explanations and illustrations! Can't wait to give it a try this season. New subscriber here!
Welcome aboard!
Amazing tutorial man!
Thanks for this video, this is something that I want to do on my return to chasing next year.
Very well and helpful described. Cool. Thanks. Some rare MCS over northern Italy produced also TLE's
Thank you for this amazing video! This deserves waaaaay more views than what it has.
If I may ask, what's the music at 17:59 & 23:44?
Thank you! It's called "CGI Snake" by Chris Zabriskie.
@@scienceoutthere thank you :)
Thank you so much for this video. I have a modded Canon and a 50mm lens, but here in the UK we don't get very many opportunities for capturing sprites. We have 4 Raspberry Pi meteor cameras though, which are very sensitive and across the UK Meteor Network, many of our members have picked up sprites from across the channel during storms there. I live in hope that we will pick up some sprites on our meteor cameras!
Awesome! Glad to help. In my mind I had been thinking if you had a clear view to south with big storms in France that would be the best way to go, You've helped confirm that suspicion!
If you turn the display off during exposures it will make your battery last longer. I've noticed my Canon batteries get about 25 more minutes from a full charge without the display lighting up after each exposure. Also you're not tempted to look at the screen and damage your dark adaptation.
merci beaucoup pour votre travail c'est très interessant :)
Thanks
A Tasty Refreshing lime drink...😊
Consider a sharp vintage lens as well. You can have a good 50mm 1.4 for under $100. The Nikkor 50mm f2 is very inexpensive.
THANK YOU for all the information...I am amature prhotographer (Wife is a pro) so have access to good equipment and for me this info helps a lot. I am trying to capture lightining with my drone and using these settings will help in capturing sprites with my drone. (That would be awesome)
Your video is very inspiring. I've been trying to catch them now and then from here, Italy. We have many many thunderstorms for at least 4 months per year. I'll be looking forward to catch them next year. By then I shoud have my A7S astromod to full spectrum. For you mom camera, which filter do you use when shooting at sprites?.
Points for the Sprite Lighting.
Interesting vid!
I'd love to see some sprites & have tried looking for them while stormwatching (never had any luck though)
The storm shown at 3:20 in the northeast corner of CO .. that'd be the general direction where I'd be looking (though not that far out tince you'd be talking 150+ miles away .lol. )
Whenever I've tried looking for them, its been on storms 50-100 miles out. (and like I say, never had any luck)
But after watching your vid, I think My 2 big reasons are:
* I've only tried with individual Supercells, not a MCS
* I'm looking northeast at storms(the only direction I have a good clear long-distance view, but it works out because that part of the state is good for storms.) That part is good ... But looking northeast also means ... I can honestly say: what are stars? we don't have those here!? .lol.
I see them as yellow. (dichromatic color blind)
Hope you see the green ghosts Mike!
Would be nice to photograph sprites, but I live in central europe where these sort of events are rare, usualy only weather cameras pick them up after the storm has crossed the border. Still it's on my bucket list and one day i'll capture one.
What software do you use to see the evolution of clouds and storms? Thanks, great video 👌🏻💪🏻
Thank you for this detail explaination, but there is one question . Can I capture the sprits whithout Ir Filter removing from the Sensor?
Haha, nice shirt
gonna be attempting this thrusday morning with a severe weather outlook but my question is i have nikon d5000 would that be too old? it can do f1.8 and iso 3200 however when it comes to shutter speed it can only do 20th of a second or 25th of a second there is no 24 its nikkor 50mm lense any tips?
Hello! I am very new to TLE photography and a pretty new storm photographer, I picked up a Nikon D3300 with an 18-55mm lens and a 55-300mm. On the 18mm the minimum aperture is only F 3.5 , do you think it is possible to capture a red sprite with that current lens? I have experimented around and the ISO max is just over 12000. I am just slightly worried that my lens may not be able to capture a sprite. Thank you very much for any response revolving around this question!
There is something I need to ask because I didn't understand about spectrum: to capture them do I need to modify my camera in Full Spectrum or let it native? Tnx in advance!
Sprites straddle the visible red and near infrared range. So you can see them and stock cameras can pick them up fine. A full spectrum modified camera will pick them up much easier however since they can additionally get that near infrared component from them.
@@scienceoutthere thanks a lot, I will continue my chase of red sprites with my native cameras!🙏
Can you use a C-8 SCT with a Richfield adapter for these phenomena? with or w/out a camera? assuming conditions and location are ok.
In theory I bet you could, however I think the field of view might just be too small to get a whole sprite into a single photo, and you won't have much margin for error getting them into the shot. Sub 200mm FL is the best plan IMHO, and even then use it in conjunction with something else shooting wide.
Quick question, thoughts on using a tracking mount while trying to catch sprites to avoid star trails? Especially at long focal lengths.
As long as you stick to 6 or 10s or less at pretty much any focal length 80 and under, stars won't have time to trail much noticeably. And exposure lengths over 15s with this high of ISO and low f-stop would cause your sky to wash out to white. That being said there's nothing stopping you from tracking on 6s exposures. It would be an odd aesthetic. Maybe even kinda cool.
@@scienceoutthere thanks Michael. Just wondering if it’s been done/if it’s worth setting up the sky guider next time I’m in the plains.
Excellent, Sir!
One very minor quibble. Why the intervalometer at 14:45? Just set the shutter speed to 10 s (or whatever) with the shutter in continuous mode. Mash the shutter with a locking remote cable and Rambo away!
FWIW, I've got a 35mm 1.4 FF Rokinon bolted to my Sony The lens suffers a number of aberrations wide open, doing gruesome things to stars. But it works quite well with the actual sprites. For ~$150, it makes a great 'Sprite Lens.'
Excellent question! I actually do just that. Continuous shooting and lock the remote bulb. I found out from a Nikon user that they will only do like 10 shots in a row that way and quit. Canon obviously doesn’t have that problem. I don’t think Sony does either.
@@scienceoutthere Interesting that the Nikon stalls like that. My old A7s V1 runs in high-speed-continuous all day. With an ND filter and using electronic shutter mode, it machine-guns daytime lightning quite well. I think the high speed mode drops the bit depth a hair compared to other modes, but it also minimizes the 'dead' time between frames (when the lightning and TLE always seem to arrive!)
I live in light polluted, woody, mountainous, New England :(
I somehow was able to see with the naked eye a blue jet or sprite accidentally... within a metropolitan area... a few nights ago. A friend of mine in Florida got it on camera, but im still wondering how I was able to see it through the light pollution
I don’t see any reason why the really big bright ones couldn’t be seen in some pretty bad light pollution with a little luck. I captured and clearly saw one against bright twilight as well. (It’s in this video in fact). It’s just not common to see that!
@@scienceoutthere whats wierd is that I saw it down here on the gulf coast, I know they can happen anywhere but I haven't heard of anyone catching any down here before
@@TylerSmith_WX I think generally the problem with the gulf coast isn’t lack of sprites but rather too much light pollution along most of the coast deterring visual captures. In theory there should be quite a few down there. Open water reduces the number of negative lightning bolts, so storms tend to store more energy for positive bolts, which in theory means a higher ratio of sprites to bolts. Not necessarily more of both than an equivalent stormy day in Oklahoma though.
@@scienceoutthere plus the higher moisture content sends low level clouds everywhere ahead of the fall/ spring squall lines.
Can you perhaps do an episode explaining how you subtract a non-sprite image from one with a sprite? I bet there are several astronomy apps that would treat the non-sprite as a dark frame. Or maybe just use a stack of layers in your image editor? (That's probably super easy, but I'm kinda layer retarded.) Thanks.
Yes definitely the latter. In photoshop it is “apply image” and subtract one image from another rather than layers. Method is similar to removing sky gradients from astro images. In Premiere you would offset two copies of the same timelapse and choose “subtract” for the blending type for the top layer. I take it you watched my other sprite video where I did this? Maybe I’ll just whip something up and post it to Twitter or something.
@@scienceoutthere Thanks, I'll play with applying and subtracting in PS. I suspect this might also work well for enhancing the faint tendrils of the stepped-leader tree on lightning photos. I can't recall if this was inspired by one of your videos or my own experience in astrophotography. Thanks again.
:)
This is why even zero gravity is NOT really zero gravity.
At zero pressure in the air there is some density and that is the ether. -- Dmitri Mendeleev
When a planet passes through the ether, satellites passing through the areas cleared of the ether GAIN ENERGY.
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This is why even zero gravity is NOT really zero gravity.
At zero pressure in the air there is some density and that is the ether. -- Dmitri Mendeleev
When a planet passes through the ether, satellites passing through the areas cleared of the ether GAIN ENERGY.