Comments on: Photographing Lightning

By: radha

radha — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:51:35 +0000

love the shot,it s powerful

By: panographer

panographer — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:17:45 +0000

Here's a dramatic collection of great lightning photos around the world.

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:03:25 +0000

If you can turn the ISO down to 100 or lower, do that. The next step would be to use a neutral density filter. They come in various powers: usually they are called .3, .6 or .9. A .3 will drop you exposure 1 stop, a .6 two stops and a .9 three stops. Here's a link to lots and lots at B&H.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:13:09 +0000

The other day I was trying to get some lightning shots during a storm midday, but even with the apurture at F/22, I had to have the shutter speed at less than one second to avoid a completely blown out shot. As you can imagine, I missed every strike. Now, I did make the mistake of having my ISO at 200 and maybe that was part of the reason but what else could I have done to be able to use a 15 sec exposure time and not have everything all blown out?

Thanks,

Tyler

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:15:19 +0000

You’re right. The heavier the tripod the better. I think a lot of people don’t realize that a good tripod is a lot better than a cheap one.

The only problem with using the timer is that you can’t set the mirror to lock up (at least with Nikons).

Thanks.

By: Denver Engagement Photographer

Denver Engagement Photographer — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:06:54 +0000

Another thing that I would point out is that A. The heavier the tripod the better, for a 30 sec exposure a heavy tripod will make a difference, if you’re on anything that was man made, besides bare ground there is the possibility of shake. A heavier tripod will minimize that. Another thing is that you dont neccasarily need a cable release, you can just set your camera on a timer, and that will greatly reduce shake. Although this will increase the amount of time in between shots so you have more of a chance of missing the lightning strike.

By: Michael Clements

Michael Clements — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:41:01 +0000

Great article and pics. Thankyou.

By: Weekly Links – July 9, 2009 « The Daily Bubble Tea

Weekly Links – July 9, 2009 « The Daily Bubble Tea — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:26:18 +0000

[...] Neil with a fabulous tutorial for photographing lightning. [...]

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:38 +0000

Thanks Darren,
Yes this one was in KGB’s but I think it’s down now. I recently gave them a bunch of new ones (properly mounted this time) that they haven’t hung yet (Ant… are you reading this?!!?!?!?!)

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:44:01 +0000

Actually, in that pic from Laos, I was scared to turn off the noise reduction too. I think I missed 3 good strikes, but ended up with that one. Here in Taipei we don’t get many either, maybe a few a year… I just got lucky with that one a few weeks ago!