I wonder about the risk when photographing lightning from inside the car with the camera mounted on the window and the cable release in your hand?
Lightning photography and safety
- Thread starter Christian Neumann
- Start date
John Olexa
EF5
Cars are great conductors of electricity. When cars are struck by lightning, the current stays on the outermost surfaces of their metal frames. No matter where you touch inside the car, you won't get zapped.
Now maybe if the bolt hit the camera then that might be a problem. My cable release is a hard plastic, but if lightning hits my camera, plastic or not I'm in trouble LOL.
Now maybe if the bolt hit the camera then that might be a problem. My cable release is a hard plastic, but if lightning hits my camera, plastic or not I'm in trouble LOL.
Dan Robinson
It depends on how far outside of the window the camera is protruding. If it's far enough outside, it's outside the Faraday cage of the vehicle frame and could conceivably be hit directly (lightning won't always hit the highest spot on any given object - (see this photo).
If it's on the inside, and not electrically connected to the frame, I would say the margin of safety is acceptable.
Lightning protection for a camera sticking outside a window would be a fairly simple thing to do - you could extend the Faraday cage effect over the window with some sort of wire frame 'awning'. I've considered building something to that effect for my vehicle.
If it's on the inside, and not electrically connected to the frame, I would say the margin of safety is acceptable.
Lightning protection for a camera sticking outside a window would be a fairly simple thing to do - you could extend the Faraday cage effect over the window with some sort of wire frame 'awning'. I've considered building something to that effect for my vehicle.
Jason Foster
Cherry picking scenarios
I tend to believe that there really isn't much you can do to change your risk other than being inside your vehicle. There are too many facts and risks involved and to try and cherry pick scenarios doesn't seem fruitful to me. The bottom line for any lightning photographer....you just have to accept the risk of putting yourself in a situation that could kill you. It's just part of the job/hobby.
I tend to believe that there really isn't much you can do to change your risk other than being inside your vehicle. There are too many facts and risks involved and to try and cherry pick scenarios doesn't seem fruitful to me. The bottom line for any lightning photographer....you just have to accept the risk of putting yourself in a situation that could kill you. It's just part of the job/hobby.
David Drummond
Member
I still contend after all these years that the thin sheet of auto glass isn't going to do a single thing to stop lightning if it wants to come through that path. My reasoning is that it just traveled through several miles of air, an excellent electrical insulator. IMO an 1/8" think piece of glass (also an excellent insulator) is not going to stop it either.
I think the car faraday cage thing is less true than it used to be. It's getting harder and harder to find a modern vehicle any more with a true metal body.
It's like Jason said, it's one of the risks you take doing it.
I think the car faraday cage thing is less true than it used to be. It's getting harder and harder to find a modern vehicle any more with a true metal body.
It's like Jason said, it's one of the risks you take doing it.
Greg Campbell
EF5
IMO, lightning is not always going to take the nice, neat path through the car's body. While the car may absorb much of the available energy and damage, any 'leftovers' can be highly dangerous.
With that much current voltage, any resistance in the car's body can result in the substantial voltages appearing across given sections of the car. If you happen to contact the frame at two places at once, you might well get fried. Even if 99.99% of the lightning is going through the metal, 0.01% is going through you - not a good thing!
Try not to be too surprised if the main bolt decides to ignore the car entirely, preferring instead to jump in the open window and say "Hi!"
As David mentions, it might come through the glass. Although a quick net search can't find it, I remember seeing a photograph of lighting damage to a car where the bolt blew a nice hole clean through the front(?) window. (Anyone?)
There is no way to be 100% safe when shooting lightning:
If you're close in, positioning yourself clear of the main precip core helps.
Staying in the car helps quite a lot.
If outside, stand with your feet pressed together and minimize the time spent touching anything else. (You don't want to be holding the shutter open manually!) This will reduce your exposure to differential ground voltages caused by a near miss.
If outside, treat any strike within a mile or so as a message to "GET IN THE CAR, DUMMY!" The zone of lightning activity can and does move about over time. If one bolt strikes close by, more are likely.
Positioning your car a modest distance from any available tall object will help. A streetlight, power lines, building, etc. will all tend to attract any downward wandering lightning in the area. You may actually increase the odds of enjoying a near miss, but you'll be less likely to take a direct hit. I think power lines are great, particularly those with dedicated (well grounded!) lightning protection wires strung above the main conductors. Park roughly halfway between the poles, offset to one side so as to place the wires closer to the storm than you. This will offer maximum lightning protection and also keep you from getting both squashed and fried if the storm manages to knock down a live wire. (Don't do this if high winds threaten to blow the whole mess down on you!)
Do what you can to reduce the odds, then stop worrying and have fun shooting the storm.
With that much current voltage, any resistance in the car's body can result in the substantial voltages appearing across given sections of the car. If you happen to contact the frame at two places at once, you might well get fried. Even if 99.99% of the lightning is going through the metal, 0.01% is going through you - not a good thing!
Try not to be too surprised if the main bolt decides to ignore the car entirely, preferring instead to jump in the open window and say "Hi!"
As David mentions, it might come through the glass. Although a quick net search can't find it, I remember seeing a photograph of lighting damage to a car where the bolt blew a nice hole clean through the front(?) window. (Anyone?)
There is no way to be 100% safe when shooting lightning:
If you're close in, positioning yourself clear of the main precip core helps.
Staying in the car helps quite a lot.
If outside, stand with your feet pressed together and minimize the time spent touching anything else. (You don't want to be holding the shutter open manually!) This will reduce your exposure to differential ground voltages caused by a near miss.
If outside, treat any strike within a mile or so as a message to "GET IN THE CAR, DUMMY!" The zone of lightning activity can and does move about over time. If one bolt strikes close by, more are likely.
Positioning your car a modest distance from any available tall object will help. A streetlight, power lines, building, etc. will all tend to attract any downward wandering lightning in the area. You may actually increase the odds of enjoying a near miss, but you'll be less likely to take a direct hit. I think power lines are great, particularly those with dedicated (well grounded!) lightning protection wires strung above the main conductors. Park roughly halfway between the poles, offset to one side so as to place the wires closer to the storm than you. This will offer maximum lightning protection and also keep you from getting both squashed and fried if the storm manages to knock down a live wire. (Don't do this if high winds threaten to blow the whole mess down on you!)
Do what you can to reduce the odds, then stop worrying and have fun shooting the storm.
Justin Turcotte
EF5
Lightning Strike Blows Giant Hole In Moving Car's Windshield
http://www.clickorlando.com/weather/4459460/detail.html
Paul Hadfield
EF3
There was a video someone posted here awhile back of their vehicle getting hit which included a day after follow up segment showing where the discharge left marks on the car as well as a flattened tire. This got me to wonder at the time but forgot till now... What if you were to fasten a piece of heavy gauge wire that is directly connected to a roof rack and/or antenna and have it drape down the vehicle exterior (secured of course) with an exposed segment touching the ground underneath as a mobile lightning rod? The inventiveness of the design is up to one's own creativity but I wonder if it might work?
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