Notes

Abstract

THE Council of the Royal Meteorological Society have issued a circular requesting that photographs of lightning may be sent to them. In response to a similar appeal last year, about sixty photographs of lightning-flashes were received from various parts of Europe and America. The Council remind photographers, amateur and professional, that the photography of lightning does not present any particular difficulties. “If a rapid plate, and an ordinary rapid lens with full aperture, be left un covered for a short time at night during a thunderstorm, flashes of lightning will, after development, be found in some cases to have impressed themselves upon the plate. The only difficulty is the uncertainty whether any particular flash will happen to have been in the field of view. A rapid single lens is much more suitable than a rapid doublet; and it is believed that films on paper would effectually prevent reflection from the back. The focus should be that for a distant object; and, if possible, some point of landscape should be included to give the position of the horizon. If the latter is impossible, then the top of the picture should be distinctly marked. Any additional information as to the time, direction in which the camera was pointed, and the state of the weather, would be very desirable.”