Night Photography Class

I’m fascinated by lightning and capturing it with the camera can be a thrill like no other. The first rule of lightning photography is BE CAREFUL! Standing on your roof in the middle of a thunderstorm with a metal tripod is not a good idea. No shot is worth your life. Remember, lightning can strike up to 10 miles from the storm, which is about the distance thunder can be heard. If you can hear thunder, you can be struck.

One of the great things about photographing lightning is that it’s very easy to shoot, at least at night. While the procedure is simple, you may need to make a few adjustments to shutter speed and aperture depending on how close the lightning is and how much ambient light is present.

Begin by placing your camera on a tripod and pointing it at a part of the sky where lightning is occurring. If it’s a very active storm you can aim for the part of the sky with the most activity and you can also afford to zoom in a little since you know where strikes are occurring. If the strikes are more random in position and timing, which is how most storms around here behave, you’ll want to zoom out more or use a wide angle lens to improve your chances of capturing a strike within the frame.

Start with a medium aperture. I like to start with F/5.6 and adjust from there. Lightning is very bright so if the lightning you are photographing is close to you, you’ll need to use a smaller aperture (larger F-Stop number) to avoid blowing out the image. Using ISO 100 will also help. Of course, if the lightning is close, you shouldn’t be outside at all right?

Speaking of close, I was photographing a storm from my driveway when this monster bolt of lightning crashed down. While I would have preferred to continue the exposure to gain a little more detail in the foreground, I decided that heading inside was the best course of action. The shutter speed was 20 seconds at f/6.7 and ISO 100.

I’ve listed two different methods below that you can use, depending on whether or not your camera has a bulb mode. If it doesn’t, use the technique for manual mode.

Bulb Mode

Place your camera in Bulb mode and attach a cable release. Use the cable release to open the shutter. You can hold it open or manually or lock the release. Keep the shutter open until a strike occurs that’s in the frame. Release the shutter and check the image on the display screen. If the strike appears to be over exposed, reduce the aperture size or decrease the ISO and try again. If the strike appears dim, try using a larger aperture or increasing the ISO.

You can capture multiple strikes in the same frame by keeping the shutter open longer. However, too many strikes together can overexpose the image and make the individual bolts hard to see. This is especially true if the strikes are in close proximity to each other. The image below is an example of catching multiple strikes in the same frame.

Manual Mode

With the camera in manual mode, set the shutter speed for the maximum your camera offers. This might be 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Press the shutter to begin the exposure. This method depends on a bit of luck since you’re hoping a strike occurs during the exposure. You may have to make several exposures before you capture a strike if the storm isn’t very active.

Once you’ve captured a strike, check the image on the display screen. If the stirke appears to be over exposed, reduce the aperture size or decrease the ISO and try again. If the strike appears dim, try using a larger aperture or increasing the ISO.

If the storm is very active, you may capture several strikes during the exposure. However, too many strikes together can overexpose the image and make the individual bolts hard to see. This is especially true if the strikes are in close proximity to each other. If you find this is an issue and you’re using timed exposure (not bulb mode), you can hold an index card or the palm of your hand in front of the lens after the first strike to avoid capturing any more for the duration of the exposure.

Other Considerations

If you’re in a rural area or there aren’t any other light sources in the frame, you can leave the shutter open for a long time without risking overexposure of the foreground. However, if there are other light sources in the scene you’ll have to take them into consideration to obtain a properly exposed image.

For instance, if you’re trying to capture lightning over a city, you’ll want to adjust your exposure settings to the scene so that it’s properly exposed and shoot with those settings, hoping to get a strike during the exposure. Using a low ISO and small aperture will improve your chances capturing a strike by allowing you to use a longer shutter speed.

Exposure time is also an issue if you’re shooting at dusk, rather than in complete darkness. You may want to start with the exposure settings from the camera’s meter and adjust accordingly.

If your camera has a long exposure noise reduction feature you may want to turn it off. This feature will apply a noise reduction algorithm to the image after each shot. The problem is, it usually takes the same amount of time to run the algorithm as the exposure time of the image. If the exposure is 30 seconds, you’ll have to wait another 30 seconds before you can take the next shot. You probably won’t be too happy if you miss a great strike while waiting for the camera to complete its processing.

These techniques are intended for shooting lightning at night. Trying to capture it during the day is extremely difficult due to the fast shutter speeds required for daytime shooting. You’ll need incredible luck, super-human reflexes, or a device such as the Lightning Trigger which attaches to a digital SLR and trips the shutter when it “sees” a strike.

Written by Andy Heatwole on October 14, 2009 under How to Photograph Lightning.

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