First-time Lightning Photography (for me)

I noticed from the recent storm around here that there was a large amount of lightning, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside. I'd never had the slightest notion to take a picture of lightning before yesterday, but something "struck" me to do so.

I learned from taking pictures of cardinals that holding the button down halfway to "pre-focus" the lens was the best way.

After a few duds and misfires, I finally caught an arc, albeit small, but this is still my first lightning photograph, and I thought I'd share it with everybody:



I wasn't satisfied with this, because of all the arcs I'd seen, this was the smallest one. So, I waited a while, and let the clouds get somewhat darker, and began snapping again:



Bingo! I finally got one. I know there are better pictures of it out there (just Google it) but this was a first-time experience for me.

P.S....

If you all have any pictures of lightning, please feel free to post, I'd like to see them.

Nice shots, Andy. I've never been lucky enough to catch a bolt like that.

Geoff

Neat shot Andy - and congratulations on catching it! Lightning's definitely hard to photograph, but definitely worth it when you do. :thumbsup:

By the way, one other trick you might find helpful is using a longer exposure. If your camera has manual settings, try programming it for a really long shutter speed (say, 15-30 seconds), and then just compensating with a really tiny f-stop setting. (After all, if your camera is "watching" the scene for 30 seconds, you have a much better chance of catching the lighting when it does occur!).

Hope this helps! Thanks again for sharing these great pics.

- FITP

FlashInThePan said:

Neat shot Andy - and congratulations on catching it! Lightning's definitely hard to photograph, but definitely worth it when you do. :thumbsup:

By the way, one other trick you might find helpful is using a longer exposure. If your camera has manual settings, try programming it for a really long shutter speed (say, 15-30 seconds), and then just compensating with a really tiny f-stop setting. (After all, if your camera is "watching" the scene for 30 seconds, you have a much better chance of catching the lighting when it does occur!).

Hope this helps! Thanks again for sharing these great pics.

- FITP

Click to expand...

Dont forget the Tripod! :twothumbs

Here's one I took a while back. The rain and reflection are actually Photoshop creations.

lightning is really difficult. However, there is an "easier" way to do it.

Back in the summer, we had a couple of serious storms, one of which was whilst I was at the summerhouse. The outside light is a PIR and was reacting BEFORE the lightning flashed. The idea that there's a large bolt of Infrared before the main strike is known and proven - this really did clinch it for me.
So I'm going to build an IR trigger. There are several descriptions on line of how to do it - I just need to get on with it. Storms are pretty rare here, though, so it's difficult to justify the time.

ah yes, a link: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~kbagschi/blitze.shtml

Bret

That's a nice Photoshop, I must say. Looks pretty real. Thanks for the help with the shutter speed, and the link in the last post. I'll use these next time I have batteries, lol.

Bretti,
Thats interesting info. I didn't realize that there was an IR "Preflash" with lightning. Let us know how your IR trigger works.

Some really spectacular examples -

Lightning Photography pictures photographs weather picture photos ...

There are lots more via -
Lightning Photography - Links

There was a program on the Discovery Channel program from the series Raging Planet - on Lightning. There was a very enthusiastic photographer who was obsessed with lightning photography - David Stillings - here's a web page of his photos -

http://www.gographics.com/lightning/

Some helpful tips -

Lightning Photography - Photo Tips

Photography techniques: How to photograph lightning

UnknownVT,
Great links. Thanks for sharing.

Camera on a tripod, manual settings,

Wow, this thread is making my contributions look primary. I like the tripod photo will. Great work on that! It looks "old-timey" too.