Tips and tricks for shooting lightning

Recently I posted the above image on my 500px.com site (http://500px.com/BeckmannImages) and got a lot of activity, with over 1300 views, 38 likes, and a peak rating of 96.  This image is one from a outing I took last summer during a particularly intense lightning storm here in the Albuquerque area.  I got several other great shots from the trip as well, and have been out a handful of times to shoot lightning with, what I think, are great results.  The key to getting some great lightning shots is preparation, patience, and some luck.  It's not hard to get some shots of the lightning due to the long exposures used, but an eye for composition goes a long way in making great shots as well.

First, let me talk about exposure settings.  If you sit around waiting for a lightning strike and hope to press the shutter and capture it as soon as your eye sees it, forget it.  Besides missing the strike, you will get tired very quickly sitting with your eye to the camera and your finger on the button.  You want to leave the shutter open as long as possible to give yourself a chance at capturing the strikes.  Don't worry about overexposing too much, that is where the f-stop and ISO can help.  I usually default to a 30 sec. exposure, but you can play around with anything from 10-30 sec. or longer.  On a particularly bright night or around lots of city lights, the shorter durations might help control blowing out areas of the image.

The next thing you want to set is your f-stop.  Two things to keep in mind here.  You want to balance the depth of field you get (depending on your composition and what is in the foreground) with the amount of light your lens is going to let in (lower f numbers let in more light, and vice versa).  Most of the time, you want something in the middle, say f8 to f11.  Start with something, do some shots, and then check your depth of field to see if you need to go higher in f stop to increase the DOF.

Finally, set your ISO.  This should be kept as low as possible, say ISO 50-200.  Because the shots are long exposures, the noise is going to be an issue to watch out for, and higher ISOs only make the noise worse.  You can do some things (such as in-camera noise reduction or post-production noise removal) to get the noise down, but you want to start with a good base.

As is always the case in photography, none of this is set in stone.  The key is to start somewhere, say 30 sec., f8, ISO 100, and adjust accordingly.  I also want to point out here, this is by no means only possible with a dSLR camera.  Many point and shoots allow you to set your ISO and adjust your shutter speed.  While you might not have control over everything mentioned above, It is certainly possible with some experimenting to get good lightning shots with any camera.

Other camera settings.  You can play around with the white balance, I find the cloudy or tungsten settings to be the best but you might be pleasantly surprised with the colors you get from another setting.  If you can, pre-focus your camera and then turn auto focus off.  You don't want the camera searching for focus or worse not being able to focus at all if it is really dark.  You can experiment with long exposure noise in-camera, I personally don't use it because I don't like to wait the extra time it takes, but if your shots are really noisy this will help. 

Other things you will need.  A tripod.  Besides the camera, this is the most essential piece of equipment.  In a pinch you can try balancing your camera on a wall or something stationary, but with the long exposure times it has to remain still for a nice crisp shot.  Another very handy piece of equipment is a remote or shutter release cable, which keeps you from bumping the camera when pressing the shutter button.  Alternatively, you can use the timer function on your camera to set a delay from when you press the button to when the shutter is opened.  A flashlight is also a must.

Because of the dangerous nature of thunderstorms, make sure you are prepared for whatever the weather might throw at you, and consider the area you are setting up in and where your nearest shelter might be.  For the storm I mention above, lightning was going off all around, and taking shelter in the car during shots was a must.  Eventually I even pulled my equipment inside the car and shot from there so I wasn't out in the elements.

Finding the perfect location.  This is what sets good lightning shots apart from great ones, location and the "other stuff" within the frame.  Lightning is a pretty dramatic thing by itself, but there are a couple things you can do to add to that, and several mistakes that certainly take away from the lightning itself.  Stay clear of power lines, bright street lights, strip malls, street signs, and generally anything that gives the image a urban or city feel.  Lightning is a natural phenomenon, and having street scenes or power lines takes away from this natural awe and distracts the viewer from the main attraction, the lightning!  Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rules (like the shot of the casino above), but getting outside of town or in an open space area gives so many more options for your creativity to show itself and your image to wow.  Frame the shot with mountains in the background, or take a shot from afar and show the scale of the storm with respect to the city lights or some other feature.  Lightning is powerful, amazing stuff, and the more you can do to show this power and drama rawness the more dramatic the reaction will be from those who view your image.

Spring is approaching and those thunderstorms aren't far away, get out and get some great lightning shots!  I'm working on a separate post about some post-processing techniques I use for lightning shots, stay tuned!

Happy Shooting