Featured Technique

Take this shot: Lightning

Ever noticed that you rarely see photos of lightning taken during daytime hours? There’s a very good reason for that – it’s virtually impossible to achieve. The speed and unpredictability of lightning means than you can only ever hope to get a shot by leaving the shutter open for an extended period. Only at night will the scene be dark enough to get away with this without too much light hitting our sensor.
There’s no easy way to shoot lightning, but there are some tried and tested techniques that should improve your chances of getting a shot. Firstly, use a tripod to keep a steady shot. Then set your aperture to f8, your ISO to 100 and your focus at infinity, with the autofocus off. If your camera has the ability to keep its shutter open indefinitely, select this setting, otherwise simply select the longest shutter speed you can. With the camera pointed in the direction of where the most lightning hits are occurring, your best chance to capture it is by holding the shutter open for a prolonged period to cover one or more lightning strikes.
Safety is paramount so never stand within five miles of the epicentre. Your tripod could conceivably act as a lightning rod so dress appropriately and stay near your car. In fact, why not shoot remotely from your car as a precaution?


The darker the better
You can only get away with shooting such a long exposure at night, so the darker the surroundings the better. You’ll have more luck away from the glare of a town or city.

Silhouettes
Your lightning photography will have more impact if there are objects in the frame to be lit up by the strike. In this image the tree-lined lake delivers silhouettes and a reflective surface to add more visual interest.

Keep it sharp
A decent lightning picture is impossible to achieve hand-held, so you will need a tripod in order to keep your photograph razor sharp. The more clarity the lightning bolts have, the better.

The sky’s the limit
The quality of your lightning picture will, to a large extent, be determined by the sky itself. Sometimes clouds will obscure the bolts so all you get to see is a general flash of light. There’s little you can do about this but you may need multiple attempts to get it right.

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