Lightning photography advice.

[dave0010]

So I'm currently in Costa Rica and pretty much every night we get amazing lightning storms here. So far there's been endless sheet lightning and plenty of fork lightning for me to practice with. I have with me a Nikon D3100 with the kit 18-55mm lens and also a 55-200mm lens. I also have a go pro hero 4.

Due to the ease of putting the Go Pro on a knightliness mode Ive been playing mainly with that but I still haven't got the right exposure settings for the different types of lightning. Below is a shot from the other night, As you can see in some places there completely blown out. Is there a better way of collecting lightning shots i.e. stacking images? If so does anyone have any advice or links to sites explaining how?





These are a couple from the previous nights storm on my d3100

[Mr Will]

Aperture will control the brightness of the flash. Shutter speed will only affect the environmental light. Balance the two to get the look that you're after - seems to me that you need a smaller aperture and longer shutter speed.

[dave0010]

the first 2 photos came from the Gopro. I cant control the aperture on that only shutter speed. Due to rain that sometimes follows the storms I'm reluctant to use my dslr that often for the lightning

[Mr Will]

dave0010 said:

the first 2 photos came from the Gopro. I cant control the aperture on that only shutter speed. Due to rain that sometimes follows the storms I'm reluctant to use my dslr that often for the lightning

Make the shutter speed longer and the aperture will get smaller!

No need to be afraid about getting the DSLR out though, they don't melt if a few drops get on them and you're not going to be leaving it out there to fend for itself!

[Hrimfaxi]

I've always wanted to have a crack at lightning shots.. (pun may, or may not be intended...)

But it's all been a bit quiet round my way for that, never had a chance so far. But if I did, I'd set the camera up the same way I'd do for mucking about with light painting - small aperture, long exposure and keep the ISO down to avoid noise.

[ecsrobin]

I managed these on my iPhone, set it to record in slow motion and placed it against the window and left it running through the storm. Then just took a screenshot.

[slyelessar]

Hrimfaxi said:

I've always wanted to have a crack at lightning shots.. (pun may, or may not be intended...)

But it's all been a bit quiet round my way for that, never had a chance so far. But if I did, I'd set the camera up the same way I'd do for mucking about with light painting - small aperture, long exposure and keep the ISO down to avoid noise.

Well said!

[Ev_]

Shot this a few days ago with a D3000.

Forked lightning by Ian Eveleigh, on Flickr

Settings were: 20sec exposure, f/11, ISO 100. This should be a pretty good starting point. Then, as Mr Will says, you can adjust the aperture to make the lightning darker (higher f-number) or brighter (lower f-number), and adjust the shutter speed to make everything else in the shot darker (shorter exposure) or brighter (longer exposure).

[markmullen]

If you've got ND grads they can be useful for holding back bright foregrounds leaving the sky clear for the lightning, that allows you to use longer exposures without blowing the foreground out, hence getting more strikes in shot.

Eg this had a 3 stop reverse ND grad over the ground which allowed me 186 seconds at f6.3

[droopsnoot]

That's very nice indeed.

[slyelessar]

markmullen said:

If you've got ND grads they can be useful for holding back bright foregrounds leaving the sky clear for the lightning, that allows you to use longer exposures without blowing the foreground out, hence getting more strikes in shot.

Eg this had a 3 stop reverse ND grad over the ground which allowed me 186 seconds at f6.3

Epic pic!

[RobDickinson]

I've used grads before to stretch the shutter out , like here
Hyperion on the Plains by Rob Dickinson, on Flickr

I dont like going over 30 seconds too often without a reason, so this one is 30 seconds * 7 layered/blended in photoshop
A storm passes by Rob Dickinson, on Flickr


But now I am experimenting with Magic Lantern, its exposure change trigger is fast enough to pick up the bolts and trigger the camera and capture it..