how to photo lightening
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happygolucky
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With a digital SLR, it is fairly easy to get good lightning shots. Here's a few steps to follow if you have never tried before:
1) Mount camera to tripod
2) Using a wide-angle lens (18-55mm), set the lens on Manual Focus and focus it on the horizon. Using a distant light, star or the moon works well.
3) Align the camera in the general direction the lightning seems to be coming from so that the horizon is just barely in view along the bottom edge of the viewfinder.
4) Set the camera to M (Manual exposure). Set the ISO to 200, f/stop to the lowest number you have (typically 2.8 to 5.6) and the shutter speed to 10 seconds. This assumes that it is relatively dark. If you are shooting with more ambient light (evening, city) you will need to experiment with faster shutter speeds.
5) Take the picture. Use a remote if you have one. Do not "wait" for the lightning. As long as the lightning occurs during the time the shutter is open, the camera will catch it.
6) As soon as the camera finishes the exposure, hit the shutter release again. Keep doing this until you think you caught something you like.
Tips: If the picture is too dark, increase the ISO speed or shutter time. If the picture is too light, decrease the ISO or shutter speed or increase the f/stop (higher number). If the lightning is far away or predictably contained to a certain area, zoom in on this area to fill the viewfinder.
1) Mount camera to tripod
2) Using a wide-angle lens (18-55mm), set the lens on Manual Focus and focus it on the horizon. Using a distant light, star or the moon works well.
3) Align the camera in the general direction the lightning seems to be coming from so that the horizon is just barely in view along the bottom edge of the viewfinder.
4) Set the camera to M (Manual exposure). Set the ISO to 200, f/stop to the lowest number you have (typically 2.8 to 5.6) and the shutter speed to 10 seconds. This assumes that it is relatively dark. If you are shooting with more ambient light (evening, city) you will need to experiment with faster shutter speeds.
5) Take the picture. Use a remote if you have one. Do not "wait" for the lightning. As long as the lightning occurs during the time the shutter is open, the camera will catch it.
6) As soon as the camera finishes the exposure, hit the shutter release again. Keep doing this until you think you caught something you like.
Tips: If the picture is too dark, increase the ISO speed or shutter time. If the picture is too light, decrease the ISO or shutter speed or increase the f/stop (higher number). If the lightning is far away or predictably contained to a certain area, zoom in on this area to fill the viewfinder.
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There's an excellent tutorial here...
http://www.hillsrain.com/lightning/lightning_tute.shtml
http://www.hillsrain.com/lightning/lightning_tute.shtml
woof woof
I like a nice Chianti
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Lens focal length... Depends on where you expect the lightening to appear. If you use a wide angle lens and the lightening is far away it could be small in the frame and you could wish you'd used a longer lens. Try and guess where the lightening will appear and frame your shot to get the shot you want... or to be able to crop to the shot you want.
Aperture... Personally I use a smallish aperture to give reasonable DoF and a longish exposure.
Shutter speed... Looooong, as you don't know if there'll be any lightening. 30 seconds is my cameras max so that's what I use. If you have the gear you could use bulb mode for a longer exposure.
Tripod... Use one, unless you can hand hold a 30 second exposure...
ISO... 100. Lightening is pretty bright so wont need a high ISO and I'd be using a long exposure for the general scene.
Exceptions to my normal shutter speed/aperture/ISO... Adjust the aperture to get the exposure length and if you want to freeze something in the frame (clouds? ships at sea? who knows????) you may have to set your gear appropriately.
So... for me it's manual mode, ISO 100, 30 second shutter speed, f8 and focal length to try and get the framing I want.
Aperture... Personally I use a smallish aperture to give reasonable DoF and a longish exposure.
Shutter speed... Looooong, as you don't know if there'll be any lightening. 30 seconds is my cameras max so that's what I use. If you have the gear you could use bulb mode for a longer exposure.
Tripod... Use one, unless you can hand hold a 30 second exposure...
ISO... 100. Lightening is pretty bright so wont need a high ISO and I'd be using a long exposure for the general scene.
Exceptions to my normal shutter speed/aperture/ISO... Adjust the aperture to get the exposure length and if you want to freeze something in the frame (clouds? ships at sea? who knows????) you may have to set your gear appropriately.
So... for me it's manual mode, ISO 100, 30 second shutter speed, f8 and focal length to try and get the framing I want.
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