Taking a look back…

A while back when i first got into photography I had this thing about lightning photographs. I couldn’t figure out how anyone could be fast enough to catch a lightning strike!! haha Actually you don’t “catch” a lightning strike in a photograph, you have to “wait” for it. Lightning photographs cannot be captured on purpose but are caught with a long exposure while the shutter is open. Not that I recommend shooting pictures with a metal tripod in a lighting storm but if you must, this is a pretty good starting point. You would first set your ISO to a low setting such as 100 or 200, then set the aperture to around f/5.6 – f/11 (atleast that’s what I recommend) and then set your exposure to around 3 to 5 seconds. This is assuming the storm is happening at night with little ambient light. Once you’ve done this put your camera on a tripod and fire away, in the direction of the lightning (assuming you can see a pattern of where it’s striking). The shutter may have to be adjusted up or down a few stops to get the right exposure for the ambient condition you’re in.

Anyway, this photo was taken a few years back at a Rhythm concert at Firewater in Dallas. It obviously got rained out and the show was moved inside. This was was shot using a friends digital camera (don’t even remember what kind it was). You can see the reflection from the wooden railing I used to stabilize the camera in the bottom of the picture. I may never catch one like this again!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Settings:
ISO 200
f/6.3
shot with a 4 second exposure

~ by chetbell on February 21, 2009.