I live in south Florida and spent many nights last summer chasing storms through swamps and along the beach attempting to learn to shoot lightning. I’m a simple hobbyist so please take these suggestions with a grain of salt or at face value…or whatever, you know what I mean. But I’d like to share some lightning photography tips with those who are new to this. Ok so settings usually depend on a couple factors… ambient light (dusk, evening, dark night etc), the distance you are from the storm, and the size of the lighting the storms putting down.
Example 1: Dusk Lightning
Thoughts: since this was shot during dusk and I was, by my own admission, entirely too close to this storm, I had shorten the exposure quite a bit and narrow the app and keep my ISO at the base. Shutter release cable really comes in handy here especially for these shorter exposure times.
Example 2: Beach Lightning
Thoughts: taken at night and the storm was drifting further offshore so I have use a pretty wide aperture and bump the ISO a bit. Obviously you wanna be careful with this because too much and you’ll blow it out but you’ll get a handle on the balance after a while. I try and keep exposure times down below 20″ because I feel like I get better detail from the bolt. There’s not much backing that up, just some weird prejudice I have.Example 3: Ocean Lightning Settings: 20″ – f10 – ISO400 Lens: EF-S 18-135 (shot at 45mm) Thoughts: this one was shot a bit different because as this cell was moving offshore I used my stock zoom lens to get tighter on the part of the cell putting down lightning. Narrowed the app a bit and it seemed to work out pretty well. Got lucky because it’s tough to get real tight on a cell and get a strike in the frame.
Example 3: Ocean Lightning
Thoughts: this one was shot a bit different because as this cell was moving offshore I used my stock zoom lens to get tighter on the part of the cell putting down lightning. Narrowed the app a bit and it seemed to work out pretty well. Got lucky because it’s tough to get real tight on a cell and get a strike in the frame.Example 4: Okeechobee Lightning Settings: 10″ – f10 – ISO200 Lens: Tokina 11-16 Thoughts: this strike was huge. This storm was drifting away from me and by this time it was quite far and I wasn’t expecting to get anything else out of it but it put down one last major bolt. Wish I had been closer (maybe) but somehow the settings worked out in my favor as I had left them on what they were set for when the cell was closer to me. It was pretty dark and had
Example 4: Okeechobee Lightning
Thoughts: this strike was huge. This storm was drifting away from me and by this time it was quite far and I wasn’t expecting to get anything else out of it but it put down one last major bolt. Wish I had been closer (maybe) but somehow the settings worked out in my favor as I had left them on what they were set for when the cell was closer to me. It was pretty dark and had a narrow app and low ISO but the strike was so huge and bright it came out ok. In terms of gear (I shoot on a Rebel t5i) I usually use my 11-16 or my 17-50. The most important piece to me, beyond the obvious, is a shutter release cable. This allows me to set my exposure and lock in the shutter release and let the camera roll. You end up with a shit load of shots but you’re almost guaranteed to get the strike (if you’ve framed it right). You’ve just gotta go through a delete like 98% of the unsuccessful shots but it’s worth it.
About the Author
Alex Brock is a hobbyist photographer living in South Florida. He loves shooting the milky way, lighting and rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. For more of his work, check out his Instagram profile. This article was also published here and shared with permission.
