How to Photograph a Lightning Strike
August 5, 2009 by Eastmon Admin
Filed under Featured Tips, Landscape Photography, Photography Tips
By guest contributor Damian Riches
photo by manumohan.com
In the following explanation I will try to cover the basic photography technique you’ll need to take good lightning pictures. You will very quickly notice that shooting light is not at all that difficult technically speaking but it takes time, patience and also determination.
Equipment Protection
Taking lightning pictures is exciting but you need to remember that you paid money for your photography equipment so the last thing you want is to have it ruined. So try to shoot in a covered location i.e. under an umbrella, or a covered area and, unless you have a good weather sealed camera, protect your camera with a shower cap.
Camera Selection
Any camera with bulb mode will do here, but I’d advise you to get a digital one simply to cut on film cost since you shouldn’t expect a high keepers ratio in this kind of photography.
Lens Selection
Usually, and I am saying usually, wide angle lenses performs better in lightning photography because you can include more sky and, thus, increasing your chances of capturing a lightning bolt in your image.
Tripod
You will need a good sturdy tripod for this but, if you feel uncomfortable putting your tripod in such extreme weather get any cheap one heavy enough to resist wind.
Photo by Craig Jewell
Settings
ISO Settings
Set your camera to its lowest ISO (100) speed. Since we are going to be using a tripod anyway there is no need to boost the ISO speed. Just set it to the lowest value possible because this will give you the cleanest picture your digital camera can give you.
Aperture
While shooting lightning pictures you should keep the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8. Remember a lightning bolt is very short in time and very high in intensity (just like a flash) and you want it well recorded on that sensor of yours. Apertures faster than f/5.6 might over blow it and very small apertures (smaller than f/11 or so) might not give you the impact you are requesting, so better stay within these known aperture range. Smaller apertures (f/8 ~ f/11) will give you a longer exposure time thus more chance to capture multiple bolts on the same exposure.
Photo by Julia Starr
Focus
Set your lens on Manual Focus and focus for infinity since it is most likely that the lightning will hit somewhere far from your lens.
Mirror Lockup and Timer
To minimize camera movements to the max you will want to turn on the mirror lockup and, unless you have a cable release for your camera, turn on the timer on your camera
Taking the shot
Secure your camera on the tripod, get the composition you want. Use what we have seen in this article to set both the f-stop and shutter speed. Then all you will have to do is click that shutter button and hope you will catch a lightning bolt in that frame. If you don’t, simply repeat the process.
Conclusion
It is simply amazing to notice how easy it is, technically speaking, and how hard it is, practically speaking, to take one of those great lightning pictures we often see on the net. Why? Well simply because it takes much more than just technique to take a good lightning picture, it takes time, patience and also determination to be added to the photography skills.
Photo by Damian Riches
Damian Riches is a Professional Photographer based in Glen Innes, Australia. Damian is the owner of www.richimage.com.au and a member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers. He shoots mainly with the Nikon D1x and D90 as well as a Fuji S3Pro, lenses include Nikkor 17-55 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 and a 50mm f1.4
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Thanks But i still have a problem with too much Light & its over exposed bad. I have the D90 Digital & most storms here are in the day time. Can it still be shot in the day time???? Never had a problem with my old N50 but that camra was not Digital.
Thanks Ricky
Your question is a great one as the article was written for night time lightning photography.
Photographing a daytime lightning bolt is very very difficult taking much more skill and luck, but it is by no means impossible. In fact the capture of a daytime lightning bolt with a disposable camera (absolute fluke) when I was 14 is what got me into photography in the first place.
So here’s my best attempt at addressing your frustration.
To photograph lightning during the day slow exposures CANNOT be used since all shots will be overexposed by the sunlight or excessive ambient light as you have already discovered. Try shooting when the light is lower as in the afternoon and at sunset especially.
Your exposure must be set to what your camera’s light metering states. Aperture priority at f 5.6, and the ISO ratting at 400 is a good starting point. Then if anything you should underexpose that reading by 1-2 stops meaning that the background will darken and the lightning will stand out more if you are lucky enough to capture one.
Set it up on a tripod, frame up the shot and then wait……..
Then, just like how most people think you take lightning photos, you must have your finger on the shutter and has soon as you see a lightning strike trip the trigger.
For this to be successful your reaction time must be VERY quick, on the order of 0.2 seconds and you have to be lucky enough to have a bolt that strikes more than once. You can identify these bolts simple by observing a few strikes before you start shooting. Most budding lightning photographers
There is one other technique that can be used for daytime lightning photography. If your camera has a fast continuous shooting mode you can just do a continuous shoot when you anticipate a lightning strike will occur then hope to get lucky and get lightning in one of the shots.
This method requires discarding several photos, but you may be rewarded with a fabulous branched daytime image and with your digital you’ll loose nothing but battery power doing this.
Hope this helps mate and good luck as the storm season is fast approaching.
Damian
Great Article damian!
Just in response to your reply to Ricky, yes you can shoot long exposures in the day time, pick yourself up an ND400, ND800 or ND1000 ND filter. In Sunlight(with my ND400) I can keep my shutter open for around 30 seconds @ f8. Far easier then guessing and hoping!