I have yet to capture the one magic lightning strike that will leave me with no need to take any more lightning pictures - but at midnight two nights ago, during the massive local bush fires, we had a light thunderstorm and I was able to capture this tangled image:
Canon 60D, 10-24mm Tamron lens @10mm, 2x25 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100
Most of the above image was from just one strike. The second image was less complex.
I have now refined my lightning strike capture technique:
- Mount the camera on a tripod in a safe place outside
- Point the camera towards the storm.
- Ensure the tripod is rigid.
- If the storm is close, use a wide field lens.
- If the storm is distant,try a narrower field lens.
- Attach a remote shutter control.
- Set the camera programme selector to manual.
- Set the ISO to 100 (do not use auto-ISO).
- Set aperture to about f/5.6 to f/8, depending on light level.
- If completely dark, set shutter speed to about 30 seconds.
- If not completely dark, reduce exposure and/or adjust the f-stop.
- If it's broad daylight, don't bother.
- Set white balance to auto.
- Aim the camera towards the estimated lightning region.
- Try to include a ground feature in the image field of view.
- Set the focus to manual and focus on a distant object.
- Take a test shot.
- Adjust the settings to suit.
- Grab a chair and sit down next to the tripod.
- Keep pressing the shoot button on the remote shutter controller.
- Unless the camera is poorly aimed, do not readjust the aim.
In this particular storm, out of the fifty-two exposures I took, two frames recorded lightning strikes during the entire session. That is a fairly reasonable four per cent success rate, considering it was a low intensity storm and there were no ground strikes. In fact, from any storm of any size, the session is a success if at least one decent strike is recorded on camera!
Most of the electrical storms experienced here seem to come from the South West, which is well suited to my front verandah. Do not set up in an unsafe place such as out in the open or under a tree or umbrella.
I have yet to decide which is the best white balance setting to use, so I set it to auto.
After the storm, I stacked the two successful frames using 'Deep Sky Stacker' and processed them slightly with Photoshop. They needed to be cropped, because the lightning strikes all appeared in the right half of the frames. I was aiming West but the two strikes came from the North West!
See previous lightning strike images > here <
EDIT: See later lightning strike images > here <