How to shoot lightning

Most people think to photograph lightning you have to be quick! But it is really the opposite. You have to be slow. Let me explain... you have to shoot slow. Time exposures. If you have a point and shoot make sure you have a tripod and the best is to start with a 15 sec exposure. Depending on your surrounding lighting and so on your F stop should be f8- f16.

So watch the storm. See where the strikes are hitting. They will keep hitting in the same area. Open your shutter and wait for the strikes. If you have an SLR or DSLR you can use the bulb mode and simply open your shutter wait for the strikes and then release. Or you can set it to 15 sec or 30 sec and keep shooting until you get something. Again your f should be around 8 to 16. There are variables. If the lightning is striking close and is very bright then you will want to be closer to 16. if it is far away start at 8. You may have to open more to f5.6. But for beginners I would set up on a tripod. Find an interesting spot/view. Set your camera to 15 sec f8 and go from there. ISO 100. I am assuming most will be shooting digital. If that is the case you can look and adjust from there. Again it depends on city lights or pitch black. So adjust with the conditions. Now if you are trying to shoot during the day you are going to have to be quick, it can be done but your chances just got bad of getting something. So start with a good dark sky and go from there. And always safety is number one.

If you smell an odor, they say the ozone and all the hairs on your body start to stand up... a charge is building and it is time to find a safe zone like your car. Trust me I have crawled out of a few situations. Always wear athletic rubber type shoes. Do not become the high point on the landscape. Do not take risk.

This is a very simple explanation. I am not much of a writer but if you have any questions feel free to email me. And thanks for visiting my site.

Contact: "BO" Insogna

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