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Lightning....how to photograph?

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mes24

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Living in Florida, lightning capitol of the world, we have spectacular lightning shows during thunderstorms. Well tonight we had some exciting lightning with no thunder and rain, great for photo taking, so I broke out my tripod and my Digi Rebel. I took 51 shots. Out of the 51 only 0 were ok. None. Thats an awful ratio. What am I doing wrong? I tried many different settings. Bulb, M, Tv....etc.. I know someone will ask me what settings I was using but I dont remember, I deleted all the shots with all the info right after seeing how awful they were. All I really want to know is what settings are used for lightning shots. What is everyones plan of action for taking lightning photos. Thanks ahead.
 
You should've saved the bad files and post them here. People will point out what went wrong. Are they blury? Are they too soft? Are they under/over exposed? Are they too grainy? Are they composed incorrectly? etc. Too many things that could go wrong.
 
First you have to capture one...

Depending on how close the lightning is, I would use a wide angle lens focussed on infinity and stopped down to f/11 or maybe f/16. If you are shooting a far away mountain with thunderheads over it, you may need a telephoto, but thats not ideal because of the more limited depth of field.

Use ISO 100.

Hopefully it is dark. The longer the exposure the better. A neutral density filter can also help to make the exposure longer if its not dark.

You want the longest exposure possible and hope that a bolt strikes during the exposure. Do not worry about exposing the bolt. It will be so bright you will get an overexposed thin line with light fading the further away from the bolt.

I would set up the camera for 30 second exposure and shoot the same shot repeatedly until you captured one.

The really cool lightning shots have something in the forground, so set up in front of your favorite monument or haunted house with a wide angle lens, the house a small element about 1/5th of the frame and the exanse of sky above.

After that description were you hoping for a lightning shot? Sorry, I have none, though I have read a bit about it.

Here's a few from pbase...check the exif info.

http://search.pbase.com/search?q=lightning&b=Search+Photos&c=sp

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights/favorites
.
 
Thanks for the quick response and awesome info CityLights. I copied everything you said on paper and the next time lightning is flashing i'll try again.

Dylan, I know it was stupid to delete the shots and exif info before checking with this forum, it surely would have helped.
 
Well,

I don't get many lightning storms, but the one I did get in the last couple months I tried the following advice which worked for me:

ISO 100-200

Aperture f8-11 (depending on what is in the foreground - for the lightning itself it won't matter much)

Set shutter to bulb and use a cable release.
1. Start the exposure

2. Stop the exposure when you either have your desired number of bolts exposed or you reach 30sec - 1 minute. A couple test shots will tell you how long your max exposure is without lightning. Here was the results of 1/2 hour of attempts:



 
We will definatly have plenty of chances to shoot lightning this year by the way the storm predictions look.
--
'Now you know, and knowing is half the battle' -Gi Joe
 
Obvious requirements:
  • tripod
  • remote shutter release
  • patience
Set the camera for ISO 100, f/8 or so, focus for infinity. This can be a challenge if you're working at night, I usually focus on a distant street light.

If there's enough strikes and low enough light pollution and a dark enough foreground, you should be able to leave the shutter open for as long as you like until you capture a strike. Too long and it starts too look too much like daylight if there's a lot of ambient light. Once you get a strike, close the shutter, repeat the process.

Seattle hardly ever gets lightning, unfortunately, but in 2004 we had what we would call the Mother of all Electrical Storms, it was quite a thrill to finally capture some lightning around here.





http://www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/DayTrips/2004/June_16_2004/Lightning/

--
Please see my 300D and 350D/XT Tips and Tricks page!

http://www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/tricks/digital-rebel-tricks.php
 
Just as the other have told you. I use a tripod, cable release, ISO 100-200, whatever lens at infinity. Be sure to shoot in RAW if you can. It will save you in post processing. I take 30 second images or close the shutter after a bolt. I will link a couple sets. hjs

300D and as I remember the kit lens. Taken in May of 2004. These are not very good:

http://henren.digitalastro.net/images_small/Lightning/

These are OT. Taken with a 10D 6-8-05. 50mm 1.8 @ F6.3 ISO 100. Shot in RAW. The ones with the large bolts were WAY over exposed. Fixed them pretty easily in camera RAW in PS CS.

http://henren.digitalastro.net/images_small/Lightning6_8_05/
 
Parn190423 said:
Just one more question, if I want to add an object(say a house) in
the foreground, how do I avoid overexposing the foreground with
30sec exposure time?
Click to expand...
The exposure is set for the forground. Set up the camera such that the forground would be perfectly exposed at 30 seconds. You can use less than 30 seconds, but the longer exposure just makes it easier to catch the lightning in the exposure.

When the bolt flashes it will brighten up the sky, but not effect the house exposure too much. In fact the bolt itself will be so bright as to over expose, a white streak across the sky. But that is what lightning looks like anyway, so no problem.

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights/favorites
.
 
Wusses.
I handhold and use 1/1000th of a second shutter at ISO 800.
The trick is to push the shutter JUST BEFORE the lightning appears.
Easy as pie.
-A
--

 
WOW - Suboc that is an amazing shot. You really feel the power of that lightning bolt and the low lying cloud really makes the picture. Very nice.
 
Similar for fireworks. If you wanted to shoot a good forground, that is your only choice. I would set up the exposure for about 10 to 15 seconds. Start it when you hear the firework shot. When the exposure is over a couple fireworks have gone off and your forground is exposed.

An easy way to shoot just fireworks with no forground is f/8, focus on infinity. Use a remote shutter release and bulb mode. Press the button once to start the exposure, watch one to five fire works explode, press the button to stop the shutter. The fireworks are so bright they expose nicely on a black background.

If the fireworks are timed nicely a neat trick is to fill the frame with the fireworks. On a very stead tripod. Start the exposure. Watch one firework explode, just before the next one goes off pan the camera over a little, and repeat until the frame is full. Just be careful to not to jostle the camera too much.

Here's a couple I took before I knew to focus on infinity. Next time will be better!

http://www.pbase.com/citylights/lake_elsnor

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights/favorites
.
 
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