Taking Photos of Lightning

Lightning Storm

I love taking photos of lightning. When I was young, my parents would take my sister and I away on summer Holidays. Most years, we’d stay at a small beach-side town just North of Newcastle on the NSW coast of Australia. One year, after we had settled in for a few days, I recall my Dad having some films developed. I had assumed that the photos were typical holiday shots but I was wrong. It turns out that somewhere between 2am and 4am the previous night, my Dad had heard a thunderstorm rolling in. He had gathered up his camera (a Ricoh 35mm SLR) and his Tripod, and had headed for the beach…

We picked the films up from the local Chemist later that day, and I was in for a surprise. The photos weren’t only those of my sister and I acting up on the beach. Nor were there photos of my Mum trying to read quietly under the shade of a tree outside our rental. Those shots were there, of course, but there were other’s that I really didn’t expect to see. My Dad had been taking photos of lighting, and they were absolutely amazing! Now, years later, I have my own photography equipment. When the opportunity presents itself, you’ll find me chasing the storm and taking photos of lightning too. To this day, I don’t think that I have ever nailed a shot like my Dad had during that holiday. But it doesn’t stop me from trying.

Photography Equipment

So, what do we need to go about taking photos of lightning? There are a number of subtle techniques that are all wrapped up together to obtain the final result, and you’ll need just a few pieces of specific photography equipment too. Right up front, I’m going to recommend a DSLR camera. Compact cameras have made leaps and bounds recently, and many are more than capable of taking photos of lightning, but a DSLR is capable of so much more. Once you have a camera, you’ll be taking photos of lighting in low light, so a tripod is an absolute necessity. If you don’t have one yet, click this link to read about why you need to have a tripod. You’ll also need a DSLR remote, and I would recommend a tethered remote for taking photos of lightning. Infrared DSLR remotes are great for including yourself in a photo, but a one-shot trigger isn’t going to be useful because we need complete control over the shutter. Again, if you don’t have a DSLR remote yet, click on this link to find out why you should get one.

The Technique

Our first step will be to set up the DSLR camera settings. Personally, I use Canon cameras so my references will all be based on Canon equipment. Don’t worry though; all DSLR Cameras have the same basic settings. They may be labelled differently or located in a different menu on your camera, but the settings will be there.

Shoot in RAW

Before starting, I would highly recommend shooting in RAW if your camera allows you to do so, no matter what you’re shooting. When you shoot in jpeg, the camera processes the shot using its internal software before we get to see it and we’re stuck with the final result. Shooting in RAW allows us to have complete control over the processing of the image. This means that we can select (and change) parameters such as white balance as desired during post-editing. If your camera does not shoot in RAW, you’ll need to set your white balance prior to the shoot. If I were to shoot in jpeg, I would start by using the “Tungsten” setting when taking photos of lightning. I’d take a few test shots and then adjust to a different setting if I wasn’t happy with the temperature of the shot.

ISO Setting

With that sorted out, find your ideal position and set up your tripod. Fit your DSLR to the tripod and plug in your DSLR remote. Finally, aim your camera at the scene and set your lens to the widest focal length possible. Now we need to set up the DSLR before taking photos of lightning. Set the cameras ISO setting to ISO 100.  DSLR Cameras tend to produce noisy shots when the shutter is left open for long periods of time. You can minimise this by using the lowest possible ISO setting available on your camera. With the ISO set, move your cameras program dial to “M”. This is full manual mode and will provide you with full control over all of the camera settings. Don’t panic, it’s not as scary as it sounds.

Lens Aperture

It’s now time to set the lens aperture. On older consumer model Canons (such as my 400D), you will need to hold down the “AV” button (located top-right of the LCD display) while turning the selector wheel. On newer models, and the mid and high range Canons (Canon 60D, 7D, 5D, etc) you’ll have a convenient thumb-wheel right next to the display. Your aperture setting when taking photos of lightning will have a lot to do with how much ambient light is around, but you need to keep in mind that this is basically landscape photography. In a landscape, you want the depth of field to be as deep as possible and taking photos of lightning is exactly the same. Start with a lens aperture of f/16. If you’re shooting at night, you may need to go down to f/8, but I wouldn’t go beyond that.

Pre-Focus

It’s very likely that you’re going to be taking photos of lightning at dusk or later in the evening when it’s dark. Auto-focus simply won’t work in the dark, so you will need to pre-focus your camera. Even manual focus can be difficult in the dark, so here’s a little trick I use. I start by setting the focal length of my lens to the widest possible setting and I’ll search for a visible object that’s as far away from me as possible. I usually search for street lights. I’ll try to use auto-focus on the furthest street light and wait until the camera locks on. Once it has locked, I’ll take my finger off the shutter button and switch my lens to “MF” (manual focus). If I need to, I can fine-tune the focus by hand (often I don’t). With the DSLR lens set to manual focus, I know that it won’t change unless I bump the end of the lens, so at this point; I’m dialled in and almost ready to go.

Shutter Speed

The final setting is shutter speed. Using the selector dial located behind the shutter button set your shutter speed to “bulb”. With the shutter speed set to bulb mode, the shutter will open when we press the button, and it will stay open until we release it. We can now adjust the shutter speed “on the fly” from shot to shot without having to touch the camera.

Go For It!

It’s time to start taking photos. Watch the storm and get a feeling for how often the lightning is striking. Once you have a good idea, press and hold the button on your DSLR remote right before you expect the next flash and hold it there for about 10 seconds. Hopefully, you managed to capture a flash or two. If not, try again until the shutter is open during a strike. Now view the shot. If the photo is too dark, have another try, but hold the shutter open for 20 seconds instead. Keep adjusting the shutter time as necessary, and obviously, if the photo is too bright you’ll need to hold the button for a shorter period of time. Taking photos of lightning will be difficult if your shutter speed is gets down to 5 seconds or less. If this happens, you can compensate by adjusting your lens aperture higher to f/20 or f/22, or in extreme cases (when shooting in daytime) you may need to use an ND Filter to stop down even further.

Want to learn more awesome photography secrets? Check out “Digital Photography Success” by Amy Renfrey – (Please note that this is an affiliate link and I will earn a small commission is you choose to buy this product. You are under no obligation to do so.)

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