Storms and Lightning were forecast on the weather apps occurring around sunset. Plan was to take shelter from the elements and photograph some lightning at Rye Harbour nature reserve.

Lightning Storms Forecast

It was forecast sporadic blustery stormy weather all day with thunder and lightning. I wanted to attempt to photograph some lightning for the first time. Usually storms and lightning occur during night time but now they were forecast throughout the day. Problem is with lightning storms is it is dangerous plus usually accompanied by buckets of rain. Needed to choose a location that provided some shelter from the elements.

Rye Harbour Location

Have visited Rye Harbour nature reserve on a few occasions over the last few years. With that it has some observation huts and a few WW2 pill boxes near the beach. Decided Rye Harbour would be a good location to try my luck at photographing lightning for the first time.

On the drive to Rye harbour you would have been forgiven for not believing the weather forecast. blue skies and sunshine. You can park up for free then walked down to the nature reserve and first bird observation point. Had a good view out of the window within the observation point in the distance was the Mary Stanford memorial and beyond Cliff End. Ideally some streaks of lightning would occur there.

Shooting Conditions

The medium telephoto composition from the viewpoint was not bad. But the goal was to photograph lightning, take shelter anything else was a bonus. Had a good viewpoint with the medium telephoto 24-105mm. During daytime exposing for lightning usually requires a slow shutter speed below 1/10th second. There were quite a few birds flying within the frame so this could cause some motion blur problems. Like to include flying birds in a big sky shot. Best to take a separate exposure for this and blend post processing.

Storm Approaching

The weather apps were predicting thunderstorms moving west to east along the coast so facing west should be a good position. Had the 100-400mm and the 1.4 extender. Experimented with the lenses and focal ranges while waiting for the thunder storm to approach.

But to catch any lightning medium telephoto would be better as need a lot of sky to capture any streaks of lightning. Was just now a waiting game. Keeping my eye on My Lightning Tracker app which notifies you when lightning is within range. Slowly the sky changed from calm blue to moody dark grey.

Quickly the storm moved overhead and the rain came belting down. During the coarse of the storm saw two streaks of lightning but not get an exposure at that time. Once I saw a lightning bolt, set my camera on interval mode, shooting 20 shots 3 seconds apart. But not get lucky.

Even through using the sheltered viewport of the observation deck the water came in covering my lens. Had to keep wiping it with microfibre cloths that quickly got wet through. Not bring enough micro fibre cloths!

Sunset after the Storm

The storm quickly passed over with very little lightning unfortunately. But then to the west the sky began to break up as the sun was setting over the high weald.

Before during and after the storm it was pretty manic conditions. Totally different light and dynamic range. From attempting to shoot lightning and storms was now shooting sunsets.

After the storm flocks of birds were flying across the frame. This was creating problems as was already having to bracket slow exposures for the sky and land. Talk about getting the best light after a storm. At the edges, the edge of a storm, the edge of a day and the edge of land.

Red Roofed Hut Rainbow

Took a look outside of the shelter facing east to be confronted by a beautiful rainbow. Rainbows often accompany storms before or after. Opposite the sun when the sun is low in the sky is the best time.

So much going on it was almost too much. The disadvantage with being in the shelter could not see around me. Just rushed out with the camera hand holding attempting to frame up a composition that included the rainbow. Problem is with good light can sacrifice the composition, but the little red roofed hut at Rye Harbour provided a good foreground subject.

Red sky over Rye Harbour

Finally with the calm after the storm not need the shelter anymore. Outside the sky was putting on a final light show before dark.

Thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of storm chasing at Rye Harbour. Made a lot of mistakes and not get a streak of lightning captured. Needed a lot of lightning to achieve that. Rye Harbour is a good location for photographing storms as provides some shelter. Especially if the storm is moving west to east. What made this special was occurred before sunset. Roll on the next thunder storm! Last place I want to be is indoors.

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