Catching lightning bolts with 30 fps @ 8 MP bursts (RX10 IV)

It was the first thunderstorm over the Bued River this end of summer, and this signals the start of my lightning photography season.

It's quite easy to shoot lightning during a thunderstorm at night - I just have to point the camera at a photogenic scene, focus manually, adjust the aperture and ISO for proper exposure, then open the shutter for 30 seconds. Hopefully, a photogenic lightning bolt will materialize within the frame during that period. If nothing interesting happens during the 30 second window, I delete the file and start all over again. 

Without an auto trigger or an ND filter for long exposures, it's nearly impossible to shoot lightning during daytime, which was the case during yesterday's thunderstorm. Fortunately, I have a camera that shoots 4K video - this allowed me to film the scene at 30 fps (or 29.97 fps to be exact) for extended periods. The chances of catching a lightning bolt at that frame rate is quite good. The downside is each frame is essentially a heavily compressed 8.3 MP jpeg file, without the processing flexibility of RAW files.

Here are a few frames caught yesterday. I took shelter in our garage and used the wider end of the Sony RX10 IV's zoom lens. All frames were grabbed from 4K clips, processed and downsized to 1920 x 1080. It's interesting to note that most of the lightning flashes happen very quickly, in about 1-2 frames. Combing frame-by-frame through many minutes of footage is a laborious process.

1920 x 1080 version

1920 x 1080 version

1920 x 1080 version

1920 x 1080 version

A composite of three frames:

1920 x 1080 version

And a short 4K footage from which one of the frames above was grabbed:

Barangay Taboc in good morning light

Barangay Taboc (San Juan, La Union) is famous for its pottery industry - various pots, terra cotta stoves and other earthenware are made and sold by the roadside in  this place.

This morning, I saw another facet of Taboc's beauty. With the early morning sun providing good illumination from the left, the twin curves of the Manila North Road and the shoreline leading to Poro Point made this seaside village quite photogenic when seen from the air (click on the high-res version below for more detail).

Many nice looking houses are scattered throughout the village, most of these are near the beach. But what particularly catches my eye is the house built on the leveled hilltop. 

I'd exchange a month's supply of barako coffee for the privilege of sipping ice-sold San Miguel beer in its yard during sunset. Lucky houseowner, he must've done numerous good deeds in his previous life to be entitled to such a killer view everyday.

Shooting  info - Brgy. Taboc, San Juan, La Union, May 5, 2019 @ 7:10 am, 
DJI Mavic 2 Pro, 10.3 mm (28 mm equiv.), f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/240 sec, 5 DNG frames merged into a panorama.

5000 x 1800 high-res version

The Cordilleras in golden light

With the setting sun beautifully casting some golden light on the Cordillera mountains, I sent up the Mavic 2 Pro to try to capture a super wide panorama late this afternoon of Labor Day.

Kennon Road starts at the lower left corner, as it runs along the banks of Bued River on its way up to Baguio City.

Shooting  info -  Rosario, La Union, May 1, 2019 @ 5:45 pm, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, 10.30 mm (28 mm equiv.), f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/120 sec., manual exposure in available light, stitched from four DNG frames.

4500 x 1500 version