Lightning pictures

[rahuldg11]

Yesterday there was a thunderstorm in my city. I thought i would take a picture of the lightning. I stood in the balcony for about half an hour but i just could not make it...the lightning was always too fast for me !!

Is there something that should be done to take picture of a lightning? How do people take those pictures of lightning? I really like them..I thought i would have one of my own...but it seemed impossible !!

[theArchitect]

The trick is actually not to use a fast shutter speed but a slow one.
Set up on a tripod use manual mode with an exposure of a few seconds - fire off a few test shots to get the right apature & ISO for the scene. Then it's just a case of waiting. It works becuase lightning is so bright against the dark scene.

[rahuldg11]

yeah.. i understand these...but then it is totally a matter of luck....even when the lightning was happening in the view of my camera, i could not press the shutter in time..

[beth0b]

Set your camera's shutter speed to bulb mode, then press and hold it until you see lightning, but do this in increments. For example, set everything up and then press and hold the shutter for up to 30 seconds. If there was no lightning, delete the image. If there was lightning, stop pressing the shutter right after the lightning. Does that make sense?

You won't ever be fast enough to take a picture when you see the lightning. You just have to already have the shutter open for it.

[fire-eyes]

You have the want, so you will eventually figure out a way. This is an especially challenging subject. What that means is that when you finally DO get a good one, you will be really happy. Keep at it!

My tips:
1) Use a low ISO, just like you would in the daytime. At first you would think that you should use a high ISO, but lightning is incredibly bright, and you will get blown out pictures.

2) Use a sturdy tripod or some other support where the camera will not move. You'll be doing exposures of 15 - 30 seconds or even more, you need the camera to be perfectly still.

3) Set your camera to bulb mode. This means that you can press the button and hold it down, and the shutter will stay open as long as you hold it. There is often a timer display in seconds once you press it.

4) Use a remote. This eliminates shake, and is the only useful way to use bulb mode.

5) Use a delay. So that when you do press the button, there is a 2 second or so delay before it actually opens. This allows extra time for tiny vibrations to abate.

6) Use a wide aperture (low f/ number), but not wide enough so that your depth of field becomes annoyingly short. This balance is tricky to find. It will already be hard enough to nail the focus, a depth of field that is too short will make this even harder.

7) Nailing the focus. This is to me the hardest part. Simply setting it for infinity is not good enough. Bring gaffers tape so that you can lock it down once you find it! It's dark out, so what the hell can you focus on? The best advice I have is to find the most distant light source possible such as a streetlight or an illuminated building that is as far away as you can resolve. Get the focus as best you can on this. Use the gaffers tape to lock it down. You will not know if it will work out until you see the result. Again, this can be the hardest part. Remember that if you change anything (aperture, focal length), you will need to readjust the focus.

8) Don't chimp (sitting there looking at the pictures). This wastes valuable time, and you will punch yourself in the head every time you are chimping while an incredible bolt goes off.

9) Find your shutter time. You'll have to experiment with all of the factors, but a big one is how long you will keep the shutter open for. Start with 15 seconds. Then try 20. Then 25, 30, and so on. I found my optimal time to be 45 seconds. I know I said no chimping but you have no choice when trying to find the best time. It's best something in the background begins to become visible such as the ground or trees, but not so much that it is annoying. You also don't want to be open long enough for illuminated skies (cities) to become irritating.

10) Expose. And then expose again. And again. AND AGAIN. Be relentless. Expose for 30 seconds or whatever, and IMMEDIATELY expose for another 30 seconds. And then immediately another. And another. You may have to keep this up for a half hour. You'll probably be annoyed. Don't chimp at this point, or you WILL miss the best shot of the night and you'll want to hop off a bridge.

11) Confirm your focus. Yes, I said no chimping. But be sure to check out one image with a bolt in it once in a while to confirm your focus is right. If it's not, change it. This can be really annoying.

12) SAFETY: You are around storms and it's dark out. Use common sense. The number one killer of people in storms is not wind or lightning, it is water. Pay attention to your surroundings. Are you on top of a hill? You are now a lightning target. Are you in a valley (even if it's a small one between hills)? You are now a flash flood target. Are you close to a large tree? You are both a lightning target and you could be hit by the tree if it falls down or gets large branches knocked down.

13) SAFETY 2: In particularly violent storms, there are two major threats, both of which can creep up on you and be deadly. The first is large hail. A golfball sized hailstone hitting your head can crack your skull open. Larger hail can kill you. If you hear what sounds like large rocks hitting things and tearing apart trees and houses getting close and closer, GET IN YOUR CAR or some other structure.

14) SAFETY 3: In violent storms, the worst thing that can happen is a tornado. People who have not been near tornadoes, especially small (but still deadly) ones, think that they will know it's coming. You can be wrong about this. You'll hear and feel a large one coming, but will you be able to figure out where it's coming from and if it's coming towards you? The small ones can be more dangerous. They are not very loud, they don't create the rumbling sensation, and they can sneak up on you. And it's dark. And they can be rain-wrapped.

15) SPOTTING TORNADOES IN THE DARK: Given that you may not hear or feel a tornado coming, the only visual hints that you will get are when lightning strikes light up the sky. Pay attention to what gets illuminated. This is quite difficult. Some day, you WILL run into this situation. And when you do, you will find yourself in a mental battle between "is this really happening" and "that is not what I think it is, I'm fine". And that delay and uncertainty can get you injured or killed. If you are unsure, get the HELL out of there. If it's too late, get under something. A ditch, anything. Flying debris alone can injure or kill you even in or near a small tornado.


I live in Las Vegas, which is the desert. Twice a year, storms move in and sometimes we get a hell of a show. I took on the same challenge you did, and did get what I think are some good pictures. I hope you can accomplish the same thing. This is not an easy task, but the rewards can be really great!

Lightning

[Chip]

Great tutorial, fire-eyes. Would you be willing to post it in the tutorial section?

One question: why use a low ƒ#, as opposed to ƒ8 or 11?

Thanks.

[fire-eyes]

Thanks for the suggestion, I feel humbled by the request.

The trick with aperture is getting the balance between a low F# (let more light in) versus a reasonable depth of field (shallower the lower the number is) which will allow you to achieve focus without having to constantly tend to it.

Like anything else it takes experimentation.

[Elmo]

I tend to close lens down say f8 (lightening is brighter than sun light) this allows shutter to stay open longer without over exposing. (you can always leave shutter oprn after the strike to get any other objects you want.

Also closing down the lens tends to give more defined streaks.

[Raoul Isidro]

Use an Intervalometer. using time exposures of 10 to 20 secs.
Most cameras have them now built into the menu system.
Leave and forget... until after the storm.
You will have 180 to 360 images after one hour, depending on shutter speed.
A number of those images will have the lightning bolts...

Note:
Use of mains power recommended when using the Intervalometer for time exposures. Batteries may be drained faster (less than an hour) with continous long exposures.

[Photosbykev]

I would add to the already excellent information that you should turn any in-camera Noise reduction OFF otherwise 50% of the time the camera will be creating the noise reduction frame and you just know that is when the lightning will strike. The use of a programmable intervalometer is well worth doing or set your camera to continuous shooting and lock the shutter down (an elastic band around the body would work)

When you have finished the session take a couple of dark frame images of the same exposure length with the lens cap ON and use them to reduce the noise in post processing.