How to take Lightning Photos

[Daya]

Guys ,

I keep visiting this site on a regular basis. Great site for photography tips ! However I could not find anyone in this forum talking or having taken some pictures of Lighting . .. Last night, there was a storm and I noticed some beautiful Lightining episodes. I wanted to capture these...But was lost as to what camera settings to use to capture these pictures.

I came back to this forum this morning and tried to search for anyone who had a similar interest. unfortunately could not find any. Is there anyone out here who can help me with Tips on Lightining photography ? It would be very helpful...

thanks for any help in Advance ! I own a G2 ...!


Daya

[JamieAU]

Hi Daya,

I've only had limited success using the G2 taking Lightning photos, there usually has to be quite a bit of it around and you need to be lucky with your timing.

I tend to set the shutter for 10 seconds and either balance the camera on whatever is at hand or a tripod if its convenient. Unfortuntately there is no bulb mode on the G2 so you can't just leave it open and close it when the lightning has flashed.

Jamie

[Daya]

Thanks for the tip ! I was trying to see if I could get around the Bulb mode with the available features on G2 ...! My other concern is, G2 is not water resistant :(

Thanks again !
Daya.

[Patsplace]

I've heard of people putting their camera in a plastic zip loc bag and using it like that. Sounds strange but from what I've heard, it works.
Pat

[Stoneh]

The bulb mode would be no use what so ever, as when lighning strikes it usually lights up the entire sky... so you would probably get a nice white photo. I tried this and the best results I could manage was to limit the shutter to 5 seconds. This depends on the type and severity of the storm.

[Yance]

Try to keep the camera out of the rain under an overhang or something and you won't have to worry about getting water damage. The camera does not have to be pointed straight up in the sky to get lightning photos. Usually you want to try and frame the photo with something in the foreground ot background anyway. Don't just point at the sky and expect to get a shot that way.

It depends if you are in the city or not as to what the ambient light conditions are but generally at near dark conditions you can just set the aperture at 5.6 to 8 and leave the bulb open. That is if your camera is set to about 100asa. If you are in the city with lots of street lights then you will have to meter the conditions or take some test shots to determine what shutter speed you can use. Shoot in full manual mode and set the focus to manual at infinity. Remember that the aperture will effectively control the brightness of the lightning, not the shutterspeed. Stoneh's problem wasn't the shutter speed it was he didn't have the aperture small enough. Even if there are plenty of clouds in the sky, the brightness of the bolt will be alot brighter than the light reflected off the clouds. Also like Jamie said it takes alot of luck and patience. If your timing is right you should be able to get soem at the peak of the storm when lightning strikes every few seconds.

[Stoneh]

Just checked the exif data.....Yup your'e right
here is the terrible example at F2.5 @ 5 secs


http://www.dialasif.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Pages/G2%20Page/Images/lightning.jpg

[excessnoise]

You might contact this person. She does a lot of lighting pics and she's good
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/viewportfolio?id=4034
Lets us know if you do.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I use a timed exposure of about ten seconds but I set it to two or more stops of under exposure. Mounted on a tripod and aimed at the horizon where the lightning is most prominent.

Then I just keep hitting the button.... you end up with a lot of very dark if not black exposures that you delete if no lightning strikes,. but when you do have a flash then things balance out.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

http://www.webphotoforum.com/user_images//L/33565.jpg

Hi,

Thanks for the idea.
I mounted my 10D on a tripod and set the ISO to 400, and an exposure time of 15 seconds.
When I got the flash I hold my hand for the lens to stop exposure.

This was after arround 5 tests.

Greetings,
Frank

[Ikinaa]

Here's my experience in taking lightning shots with the G3.
Mount the G3 on a tripod, iso to 50, f/8, time to 15 secs
I oriented the camera to where i thought the lightning would strike and shot with the remote.
30 seconds (anyone knows how to stop it from doing the 15 secs post-processing?) later the G3 showed my the picture I've taken.
I reoriented the camera every time lightning struck, even zoomed as it went farther away.
It was about 11pm, so I had no light from the sky except the lightning.
By this method, I got about 15 lightning pics out of 60 shots.

[stopbath]

Ikinaa wrote:
Here's my experience in taking lightning shots with the G3.
Mount the G3 on a tripod, iso to 50, f/8, time to 15 secs
I oriented the camera to where i thought the lightning would strike and shot with the remote.
30 seconds (anyone knows how to stop it from doing the 15 secs post-processing?) later the G3 showed my the picture I've taken.
I reoriented the camera every time lightning struck, even zoomed as it went farther away.
It was about 11pm, so I had no light from the sky except the lightning.
By this method, I got about 15 lightning pics out of 60 shots.

The post processing is the camera's software taking out some of the noise from the shot. Generally, this is a good thing.

[Ikinaa]

stopbath wrote:
The post processing is the camera's software taking out some of the noise from the shot. Generally, this is a good thing.


I know, but it would be nice if the extra delay could sometimes be avoided, even if there is added noise

[Ikinaa]

Here are some of my best lightning photos...
Only cropped and slightly resized to a smaller size

http://ikinaa.e-lentz.net/lightning/gl_20030720_232228_g3_IMG_0251.JPG

http://ikinaa.e-lentz.net/lightning/gl_20030720_232644_g3_IMG_0257.JPG

http://ikinaa.e-lentz.net/lightning/gl_20030720_234358_g3_IMG_0277.JPG

http://ikinaa.e-lentz.net/lightning/gl_20030720_234851_g3_IMG_0282.JPG

[jasenh7]

Here are my photo's of lightning.

http://www.pbase.com/jasenh7/lightning

I found that finding a good storm is the first key. I was coming home and saw this one coming in, so I ran in the door, grabbed my equipment, kissed the wife and ran back out. I ran out far ahead of the storm and got set up. I then used the 5 second method to capture the images.

Let me tell ya....lots of deleted shots to get those four. Lots of cussing too as the bolts would go either before or after the shutter was open or out of the range of the camera. In the end, luck of finding the right storm, skill of picking a good location to shoot it from and TONS of patience to take as many shots as needed is what you need for these shots to work. I ran my G2's battery completely out before calling it a night.

[TSORoanoke]

I enjoy shooting storms every chance I get. I was previously using a Rebel 2000 and blew through rolls and rolls of film for just one shot. I did get a few that I'm proud of. Now that I have a D60, we haven't really had many storms in my area - odd weather patterns. Anyway, do a search on the web for "lightning AND photography". You'll find many good sites that explain how to identify a great storm, where to set up, how to set your equipment, and how to stay alive. In the end, you need a good storm and a lot of patience (and film/storage space).