My recipe is:
Tripod.
Remote release switch, with locking function.
ASA to lowest value, unless you have a (slow) lens that is unacceptably soft at wider apertures.
Find a pretty scene. Don't just aim the camera at the sky, or shoot from a location with a cluttered skyline.
Find some way to reliably focus at infinity. This can be the biggest challenge for those shooting AF glass.
Manual mode.
f/ 6.7 to start.
Adjust shutter speed to properly expose clouds, sky, landscape, etc. (All the non-lightning stuff)
Lock switch and machine-gun until you catch a bolt.
Chimp image and adjust aperture if lightning is either too wimpy or blown out.
Adjust shutter as needed to compensate for fading light.
Triggers are of rather limited value. Use only if you NEED to catch lightning by day; otherwise, don't waste your money. The main problem is the latency they add, combined with the fact that most of the bright branching lightning usually occurs during the first main stroke (called a 'return stroke'). By the time the shutter is open, the main show is usually over. Most subsequent return strokes are single-channel 'pencils' in the sky and are not particularly interesting IMO.
