Lightning Photography

[dplpbbp]

I got my first lighting picture last summer. For me, the keys were a tripod, bulb exposure and a remote. And lots of patience. Because lighting is so fast and sporadic, I kept triggering the shutter in 10-30 second exposures and not waiting until I saw the lightning. Out of 50 or so shots, 49 of them were just sky. But when I saw what I got on that one picture, it was totally worth it!

[wildbird]

Originally Posted by ravncat

Absolutely. - And if you are working with lightning and it looks like you're gonna get a good amount of lightning - set up your composition and figure out where you want the lightning to strike - if there's enough lightning there's a good chance you'll get a strike reasonably close to where you want it - be patient and let the lightning fill your shot as you like - doesn't always work - but when it does...

Agree. Get composition setup first, then hope lightning will fill it in.

[kanddr]

Nice pic wildbird.

[wildbird]

Thanks Kanddr! Is that season again, but I am in different location, so no shots....

[KristineMN]

What the rest said! We haven't had any good storms where I am in a long while. Its winter now obviously, but this year we only had a couple decent storms early last spring. I got the best results by setting up my tripod and camera under the back "hatch back" of our SUV. It protected both myself and the camera from rain and I could sit in the back of the SUV comfortably. Staying warm and dry I had a lot more patience to sit and grab shots.