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!

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