Lightning Pictures

[Geertje K.]

Yesterday we had a huge storm with a lot of lightning in The Netherlands. I heard a lot of 365-er attempting to take pictures of it. And so did I. I quickly read some on the internet and there were two options: burst or long exposure.
I tried both and made over 300 shots with only one or two good ones. But at least I had a good one!
Has anybody any tips and/or tricks on how to make a higher success-rate?

I used a tripod and long(-er) exposure at the end.
It was really hard because it wasn't after sunset, so really long exposure lead to over-lighting.

This is the result:



and edited:

[martyjk]

Smashing effort, I myself have yet to capture the wonder of lightning...Well done to you!!

[Elke W.]

@geertje I was "struggling" myself last night and only got one good one.. didn't try burst though (surly will next time)! Did you get this shot with burst or long exposure??

[Trina P Holub]

Great lightning shot! I haven't gotten one yet either.

[Deb Mayne]

I put my shutter release onto BULB so I can depress when and for however long. I have only shot lightening once and it is a hit and miss thing! Totally wicked shot! I would be interested in hearing from others too as I am new to trying to shoot it too!

[Annie Charalambous]

Never tried (we've not had a storm here in yonks) but you did well :)

[FaerieMoon]

Oh, excellent!! We had one last night as well--I wanted to get out there and give it a go but my kiddos were getting freaked out about me being outside during a thunderstorm. Boo. (: Maybe next time

[FaerieMoon]

Really nice photo--I love all the waviness of the lightning towards the top

[bkb in the city]

those really are some great shots. I am still waiting for our first real thunder and lightning storm here in Edmonton.

[Mcdougall]

I've been trying this for awhile with no success. So my only lightning shot is Photoshopped lightning! Love the edit. Looks great!

[LisLee]

Oh, that is smashing! I think you are right about the two ways, either burst or long exposure. We had a storm last night about 7pm and I got two pictures, but nothing as nice as yours. I put my f stop around f11 iso 100 and shutter speed about 2 sec and I was able to get a couple of bolts in there just by chance without being too overexposed. Much easier when it is dark outside! I also didn't get out my tripod because it was raining, but probably also easier with a tripod!

[Muse]

Love your pics! I thought about it yesterday too, but the thunder actually turned into rain mostly and very few lightnings. I think you did very well. What works best is to have long enough exposure to catch more, but as you said it's not possible when it's not dark enough. Your edited one is very nice!

[Geertje K.]

@elke I did use a longer exposure on this one, two seconds. So I clicked, waited and clicked, waited and clicked again and so on...

[Geertje K.]

@lislee75 I read somewhere that a lower f-stop is better, mine was 6.3. I found this article, but it was a but to advanced for me: http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniques.php?cat=lightning&page=lightning

And this article too: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-lightning

[Geertje K.]

@debmayne Thanks, I don't think my camera has a BULB function, but I go and have a look. That sounds convenient. I hope that there will be more input.