How to photograph lightning at night

photograph lightning at night

Rate: (4 Ratings)

Taking pictures of lightning during a storm is a game of luck and patience that is usually left to the more advanced photographers. It requires a few extra pieces of equipment, a keen eye, and like i said before: patience. Use these steps to insure better chances of catching one of these split second events.

Flag Article

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

Film camera
Tripod
Shutter release cable with button
ASA100 film

Step1

First, the storm should only be a thunderstorm, not a complete downpour of rain. Taking your camera out into extremely wet conditions is not advised.

Step2

Next, locate an elevated area with a clear view of the area of sky the storm is located in.

Step3

Attach your camera to the tripod, and point it toward the area of the sky where you have witnessed the most recent lightning activity.

Step4

Next, attach the shutter release cable to your camera.

Step5

Now set your camera's focus to infinity so that distant objects are in-focus. This is when the lens is retracted all the way toward the base.

Step6

Then set your shutter speed to B. In this setting the shutter stays open as long as you hold the shutter button down.

Step7

Then set your aperture to f/8.

Step8

Now press the shutter release button on the cable and hold it down until lightning strikes.

Step9

If lightning does not strike within one minute release the shutter button and advance the film, the frame has been over-exposed.

Step10

If lightning strikes during this one minute time frame simply release the shutter button on your cable and advance to the next frame for hopes of another successful shot.

Tips & Warnings

ASA100 film is generally the best choice for taking pictures of lightning, as the film allows for long exposures in dark environments.
Patience is a virtue when taking lightning pictures. If you get one or two good lightning photos out of a roll of film you're doing very well.
Fast moving clouds don't work well with long exposures, they blur in the photo. Slow moving clouds make better backdrops that don't distort the image.
When taking pictures of lighting, keep a safe distance between yourself and possible lightning magnets, such as radio antennas and power lines.

Comments

stevewall said

Flag This Comment

on 10/17/2007 For the web to be revealed against black it needs to be back lit. This could be by light you provide or perhaps light from a street light or a window. But then the spider will be a silhouetted, so you need to get light on it as well. Again light you provide. Flash might work, but it probably will wash it out. I have a photo of a spider shot with just flash at http://www.flickr.com/photos/finefoto/243092334/
You can hardly see the web, but the spider is not burned out and has great detail. It was shot with a canon sd700is pocket camera.

tduerre said

Flag This Comment

on 7/20/2007 I have a question for you. I only have
adigital camera but there is this incredibly cool transparent and reddish looking spider hanging around outside my house. How can i take a picture of the spider and the white web with a black background i.e at night?

View All