Capturing the Lightning!
One of my favorite things to photograph is lightning! No matter how many images you take EVERY single image will be different. I enjoy capturing the magnificence of mother nature during these shoots albeit from a safe distance! Let me explain to you how I do it. Of course, please feel free to play with your settings as every situation can be different.
- Firstly, we will start off with safety; pay attention to the news reports and weather apps to determine how the storm is moving, if it has high winds, hail or possibly worse tornados. While I do love capturing epic shots, I do want to do it as safely as possible.
- Usually, I will try to be 2-3 miles away from the storm whether it is coming towards me or away from me. Which leads me to my second point, while finding a safe location to shoot is important, it's also important to understand how to get to safely quickly if the storm catches you by surprise. Which can happen because of back building storms or combining storm cells. Always be alert!
- Once I have picked a location, it's time to frame up your shot and get your gear ready. Here is the gear I would recommend:
- Wide angle lens - my favorite is the Tamron 17-28 f/2.8. If you are far enough away, then you can definitely switch to a longer focal length, but I find a wide angle allows maximum coverage as you will usually not be able to know where the lightning will strike.
- Camera Body - I use a Sony A7R5 as my primary body. Lots of resolution and the ability for me to crop in and not lose quality. Also, you need to know how to do a 2 second delay on your camera unless you want to use some sort of remote trigger (i.e., cable release or app).
- A sturdy tripod or something that will not move. I have even used my shoe for long exposures, LOL! Here is the tripod that I use: K&F Concept SA254T1. It's super tall and breaks down fairly small.
- Really, nothing else. There are other items on the market such as a Pluto trigger to help you capture the lightning, which I have, but seems to be dead everytime I go to use it. I guess I don't pay enough attention to the weather before deciding to head out.
Now that you have your location and equipment, let's get to shooting!
- First, let's get your composition set up and pick an area where the lightning seems to be the most active. I have found that the lightning tracker on my app is good at tracking this or you can just look up at the sky! ;)
- You will want to pick a location that you can have several different vantage points if you were to rotate your camera.
- I prefer to shoot landscape mode for my work, but I have been lucky and been able to capture some shots in portrait mode.
- You can hang a weight of some sort from the center of your tripod to help weigh it down or your camera bag. Also, I recommend removing any camera strap as if the wind is blowing it might cause some movement on your tripod which will decrease the sharpness of your images.
- Pick your aperture - I do not want anything blurred as I want my lightning to be as sharp as possible and since I don't know exactly where lightning will strike I need to have as much as possible in focus, so I will choose a smaller aperture usually around f/8 - f/11.
- Pick your focus point - switch your camera or lens to manual focus and pick the furthest light or object on the horizon to focus on. This will make sure that all items in between will be in focus as well such as lightning.
- Pick your ISO - since we will be doing a long exposure, I choose ISO100 every time. I want my images to be super clean and crisp.
- Pick your Shutter Speed - I have found that a 15 second exposure is a great timeframe to capture possible multiple shots during that time. I have also used 30 seconds, but you have to very careful with the longer exposures and make sure that the wind or some other element will not affect the exposure.
- Set your camera to a 2 second delay shutter. If you do not do this, just by pushing the shutter down on your camera can cause camera shake and ruin your images, so a 2 second delay, a remote release or an app is best.
- So, I recommend taking shots right away as you never know when lightning will strike. Take a couple of shots just to make sure you have everything in focus as well.
- Now, it's just a matter of luck and timing. Try not to review your images too much after you have verified focus and exposure as you really want to keep shooting as much as possible. I have missed so many shots because I was busy reviewing images on the back of my camera.
- Finally, use the 5 second count to determine how close a storm is and if it's getting too close. If you don't know; when you see a lightning strike, start counting, "1,1000, 2,1000, 3,1000" and so forth until you hear the thunder. For every 5 seconds, that is one mile. If the number is decreasing, that means the storm is getting closer to you and if it is decreasing, then it's moving away. Be ready to move!
On a good night, out of a 100 attempted shots, you might get 15-20 really good shots, so it's just like fishing. And every now and then you will get that SPECTACULAR shot, so just be patient! As far as editing my images, I do prefer a cooler tone which will make the clouds look a little purple, but the lightning will usually be bright white. I will also add a little clarity to the clouds using the sky selection mask in Lightroom. Give it a try and please share the results! Here are some images from my latest adventure, but it was just down the street in my neighborhood, so I did end up with some power lines through my images, but I am ok with it. The lighting still looks amazing!
Best of Luck and Stay Safe!