Did you ever try to capture lightning strikes with your camera during a thunderstorm? This image explains a method using a mirrorless camera.

In mid-November 2024, on my way back from my local sunset paradise, I saw the distant lights on the highway and their reflection on the river. I parked the car safely on the side of the road. In my mind, it was a good occasion to practice again the Live Composite feature on my mirrorless camera.

When I reached the river shoreline, I set up my tripod, camera with a wide-angle lens, and cable release.

I composed and framed the image using an 18 mm focal length and an F/5.6 aperture.

Using the Live Composite feature, when I pressed the shutter, the camera captured the global scene, and then when I re-pressed the shutter, at each 0,6 sec, the camera checked if there were some pixels more lighted than before and made the adjustments to the global raw file. During this process, I saw the developing image and the histogram progress on the back screen. Ten minutes later, I pressed the shutter for a third time to stop the process. I should call this feature “A smart long exposure”.

Later, in post-production, using only Lightroom, I created a sky mask and performed a dehaze set at +15. I duplicated and inverted this mask and put the shadows to +100. Then, I pressed the AUTO button in LR to let the software perform all the other adjustments automatically!

A good friend of mine and fellow photographer told me that this image looks like a Claude Monet painting. My readings revealed that Master Monet was obsessed with light and water. He was an undisputed master of impressionism. He revolutionised the art of painting. For me, this gorgeous digital feature, combined with the wind ripples, brings impressionism to the scene! Once again, gear familiarity is a fundamental photographic element.