So, I just tried to take pictures of lightning using 25-30 second exposure times.
I was outside for about 30 minutes before I gave up

It went like this:
Setup everything
Press button, wait for 25 seconds
Wait for another 25 seconds while the picture processes <THE WORST PART
Press the shutter button again
Rinse and repeat.

I cannot tell you how many times the lightning went across the sky as my slow ass camera was processing the picture =(

This is all I have from my self esteem crushing escapade. I know it's terrible, crappy camera etc. I do what I can with limited knowledge/supplies.


Edit: Holy lensflare batman.

Do you guys have any tips on photographing lightning?

This post was edited by AnimeFTW on Oct 20 2010 12:35am

Wow, what camera are you shooting with that takes 25sec for the picture to clear buffer?

If you're serious about lighting photography, take a look at this link. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=865913&highlight=lighting+trigger

Without something like that.. it's pretty much depends on luck.. I've done it a few times too and i find it better to take shorter exposures. Roughly 5 sec or so, it rarely storms here so i'm waiting to try again.

These are my fail attempts too lol

Yeah, it's a Sony Alpha300. Takes decent pictures for a beginner camera, but the quality in dark settings sucks mean... eggs. Even at 100iso it's still grainy.
I go to school for 15 hours, so when I finally got home I was pumped to shoot some lightning that was going on, but after 30 mins it stopped

If I had those "fail" attempts in my possession, I would put them in my portfolio

There will always be those fail attempts!

Just remember to use the lowest ISO possible! And hopefully within 30 seconds some lightning flashes. Sometimes it takes a lot of shots to get it right.

Next year I plan to do a Bulb exposure with lightning, see what I can get. It should be interesting. I don't know if your camera has that option, though.

Not sure what else to tell you besides just working on composition and stuff like that. I wouldn't shoot where there's city lights or artificial light. I would try to go to the outside of the city and get some from there, maybe include a tree with the shot.

Good luck!

This post was edited by Chantal7 on Oct 20 2010 08:45am

Chantal is pro at capturing lightining.

I took a series of pictures, 4-5 seconds of exposure each one, and merged them with PS. I had almost 100 pictures captured, 10 of them had a lightning. So, yes, 90 of them were just bright clouds.

I should have taken a shorter exposure one, like 0.5 - 1 second to avoid the bright church. I forgot about it. It looks a little overexposed but I eventually liked it

Very nice man! I have only tried this once, and I went out a bit late so the results were less than spectacular.

What a coincidence, Adorama just release a newsletter about lighting photography

http://www.adorama.com/ALC/Article.aspx?alias=Shooting-Lightning-AdoramaTV&utm_source=ET&utm_medium=Email

You probably need to use the self-timer function when shooting with long exposures otherwise you would get blurred pictures due the fact that the camera shakes when you press the shutter button
and a sturdy tripod also helps. Does your camera have long exposure noise reduction? If not you can shoot RAW and try to reduce the noise in post-processing.




wow good shot!
Have you tried to adjust the overexposed parts in Photoshop?

I actually like that shot! It's like God is lightning up the place