Just as I went to bed last night the room was lit up by a bright flash, so I looked out of the window and saw a thunderstorm right on the horizon.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity for some pics I grabbed the camera and started snapping. Only got two successful shots of some fork lightning in over an hour of watching. Definately one of the best storms Ive seen in a long time.

The blur in the front of this was a passing Trawler.

Very suprised that this one came out and was usable.

Hoping to pick up a better quality lens at some point that works better at night, the one I have doesnt really cut it. Missed out on some fantastic shots of the clouds lit up because the lens simply wouldnt register it.

Anyone else got any lightning/storm pics they want to share, would love to see what other people have managed to get as its not exactly easy to do!

If it’s a hackable canon…CHDK and use the motion sensing mod to trigger it instead of long exposure?

Nah its a Nikon D70

Ah well!

Nice shots though, very hard to get lightning!

How come its orange?!?!

Think its something to do with nearby streetlighting and the long exposure setting

Change your white balance, find something white nearby and set your custom white balance while pointing at it. This’ll counteract the orange.

thanks for that coffeeking, will give that a try (when I figure out the white balance setting on this camera!)

There was a massive storm here a few weeks ago, and I saw a couple of photos of it on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundlab2002/3566192748/

30 sec exposure apparently.

Yes, the key to get lightening shots is a really long exposure. Dial in ISO to the lowest (e.g 50), max out the aperture (e.g. f22) and work with whatever shutter you have left. I suppose ND filters may come in handy to reduce more light and extend the exposure.

Simply “trying to wait for the lightening strike and click the button” wount work. Much better effect with long exposure (capturing many lightening strikes in a single image).

This guy’s stuff is great

Creg – Member

thanks for that coffeeking, will give that a try (when I figure out the white balance setting on this camera!)

use photoshop and use the ‘remove colour cast’ option to correct the white balance in post processing.

Best way is to use a shutter release cable, set the aperature to f5.6, then lock the shutter open for around 3-4 minutes. Obviously the camera needs to be on a tripod, or a beenbag.

why f5.6? isn’t that quite specific for an relatively unknown DoF

… and why bother with a cable release?

(and why not spell APERTURE correctly?)

🙂

Couple of mine

Both taken just by sitting at the window with camera (my old D50) on a tripod and leaving the shutter open

See here for biggerer versions