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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