Lightning Photos - A How-To Guide

[brandon]

Hey Everyone, I just wrote up a how-to article on shooting lightning for my blog...enjoy!

 

*copied from my blog http://brandontakesp...res.tumblr.com/

 

How I Shot It - Lightning Photos

 

Lightning photos seem to generate almost as much "how did you do that?" questions as the silky smooth flowing water shots I do, and guess what,

it's literally the same technique used to shoot both types of photos. Both techniques use a long exposure to allow any movement(bolts of lightning,

moving water, etc.) in the image to be captured on the sensor.

 

Some things you'll need for lightning photography:

 

- A camera with the ability to shoot up to 30 second exposures

- A wide-angle lens. The more sky you can fit in the photo,

the better.

- A sturdy tripod since its normally quite windy when storms

roll through

- Something heavy to hang from the centre column of the

tripod for extra sturdiness

- A remote or intervalometer(if you're lazy like me)

- A bubble level for your camera's hot shoe (if your tripod head

doesn't already have one)

- A garbage bag or something similar to quickly throw over

your gear incase the rain sneaks up on you

- Last but certainly not least, you need Lightning.

Find some online weather radar maps/forecasts to

help predict when the storms will be passing through.

 

Alright so now that I've listed all the equipment needed, I'll explain how to put it all to use. Oh and before I go any further, all of this info has to do with taking lightning

photos at night. I still haven't mastered daytime lightning photography yet…not even sure if its possible but if it is, and I figure it out, I'll be sure to share it with all of you.

 

Ideally with lightning photography you're going to want to stay dry. This means being ready to shoot the storm BEFORE it hits where you're shooting from. Not only will this

keep you dry, but it will also allow for better quality images. Let me explain…If you wait until the storm is right overtop of you, not only will you get soaked, but there are millions

of raindrops in between your camera's lens and the bolt of lightning. This is why I like to shoot the storm as it approaches and hopefully capture lightning at the leading

edge of the storm without anything in between my camera and the storm.

 

Before you start shooting make sure you have your lens set to manual focus and have it set to infinity. I like to use the 10x magnification while using my camera's liveview

function to make sure my focus is dead on. There's nothing worse than reviewing 2 hrs worth of lightning photos to find that your focus wasn't sharp the entire time.

 

Aside from your focus being manually set, your exposure should be as well. I prefer 20-30 second exposures at 100 or 200 ISO. Once those values are set I settle on whatever

aperture gives me the correct exposure. Depth of field isn't a big issue with this type of shooting since your focus is already set to infinity.

 

Another key thing to mention is to turn your camera's noise reduction OFF. If you leave it on, your camera will have to process each shot for as long as the exposure was.

For example if you take a 30 second photo, your camera will take an additional 30 seconds to process the file before you can take another photo. And its usually during

that 30 seconds of waiting that the lightning strike you've been waiting for happens…learn from me people.

 

Now that you've got your shot all lined up, your focus set, and your exposure set, it's time to plug in your remote or intervalometer and start shooting. I prefer to use an intervalometer

because it allows me to just set my camera to take one 30 second exposure after the other. A normal wired or wireless remote will also work fine.

 

Now just shoot until the storm hits and hopefully you'll have some lightning photos to share with the world! Don't be discouraged if you don't get any strikes your first few times shooting.

We had a pretty intense show of heat lightning the other night here in Windsor and I shot the storm for about 2 hours and only captured one image that was worthy of posting.

I did get lots of other shots of lightning but this one below was by far the best.

 

 

Lightning Across The River by bbroderick86, on Flickr

 

[alphaalpha]

I am not really into photography but it's very cool of you taking the time to post this. I always love seeing cool lightning shots and that one is great!

 

Thanks for sharing,

 

-AA.

[Joey]

Great tips Brandon, I'll will have to try that for the next storm. A balcony would be nice too though, lots of trees in my backyard

[BillM]

Thanks for the tips Brandon! I gotta learn how to take pics of the Northern Lights for a trip I have planned next August Lighting sounds like good practice, lol.

[Twocoda]

Heres a few from the Tuesday storm

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was quite the spectacle to see...the show was surreal to something out of Hollywood

 

My noise reduction was over looked and in these photos you can see "hotspots" which translates to more time to edit then one would like ...

Edited June 13, 2011 by Twocoda

[adolson]

There was a lot of lightning tonight, but nothing really nice like you guys shot. Mostly not visible, but some bolts were in my FOV. Only one pic even remotely turned out, but my camera doesn't go to 30 seconds, it only goes to 15, and my aperture only goes to 8.0.

 

[misfish]

Hey Everyone, I just wrote up a how-to article on shooting lightning for my blog...enjoy!

 

*copied from my blog http://brandontakesp...res.tumblr.com/

 

How I Shot It - Lightning Photos

 

Lightning photos seem to generate almost as much "how did you do that?" questions as the silky smooth flowing water shots I do, and guess what,

it's literally the same technique used to shoot both types of photos. Both techniques use a long exposure to allow any movement(bolts of lightning,

moving water, etc.) in the image to be captured on the sensor.

 

Some things you'll need for lightning photography:

 

- A camera with the ability to shoot up to 30 second exposures

- A wide-angle lens. The more sky you can fit in the photo,

the better.

- A sturdy tripod since its normally quite windy when storms

roll through

- Something heavy to hang from the centre column of the

tripod for extra sturdiness

- A remote or intervalometer(if you're lazy like me)

- A bubble level for your camera's hot shoe (if your tripod head

doesn't already have one)

- A garbage bag or something similar to quickly throw over

your gear incase the rain sneaks up on you

- Last but certainly not least, you need Lightning.

Find some online weather radar maps/forecasts to

help predict when the storms will be passing through.

 

Alright so now that I've listed all the equipment needed, I'll explain how to put it all to use. Oh and before I go any further, all of this info has to do with taking lightning

photos at night. I still haven't mastered daytime lightning photography yet…not even sure if its possible but if it is, and I figure it out, I'll be sure to share it with all of you.

 

Ideally with lightning photography you're going to want to stay dry. This means being ready to shoot the storm BEFORE it hits where you're shooting from. Not only will this

keep you dry, but it will also allow for better quality images. Let me explain…If you wait until the storm is right overtop of you, not only will you get soaked, but there are millions

of raindrops in between your camera's lens and the bolt of lightning. This is why I like to shoot the storm as it approaches and hopefully capture lightning at the leading

edge of the storm without anything in between my camera and the storm.

 

Before you start shooting make sure you have your lens set to manual focus and have it set to infinity. I like to use the 10x magnification while using my camera's liveview

function to make sure my focus is dead on. There's nothing worse than reviewing 2 hrs worth of lightning photos to find that your focus wasn't sharp the entire time.

 

Aside from your focus being manually set, your exposure should be as well. I prefer 20-30 second exposures at 100 or 200 ISO. Once those values are set I settle on whatever

aperture gives me the correct exposure. Depth of field isn't a big issue with this type of shooting since your focus is already set to infinity.

 

Another key thing to mention is to turn your camera's noise reduction OFF. If you leave it on, your camera will have to process each shot for as long as the exposure was.

For example if you take a 30 second photo, your camera will take an additional 30 seconds to process the file before you can take another photo. And its usually during

that 30 seconds of waiting that the lightning strike you've been waiting for happens…learn from me people.

 

Now that you've got your shot all lined up, your focus set, and your exposure set, it's time to plug in your remote or intervalometer and start shooting. I prefer to use an intervalometer

because it allows me to just set my camera to take one 30 second exposure after the other. A normal wired or wireless remote will also work fine.

 

Now just shoot until the storm hits and hopefully you'll have some lightning photos to share with the world! Don't be discouraged if you don't get any strikes your first few times shooting.

We had a pretty intense show of heat lightning the other night here in Windsor and I shot the storm for about 2 hours and only captured one image that was worthy of posting.

I did get lots of other shots of lightning but this one below was by far the best.

 

 

Lightning Across The River by bbroderick86, on Flickr

 

 

My brain hurts. Thanks for taking the time bud.Lots of info to absorb there.

 

Great pics by all.

 

Thats a great shot Dave.