Okay, so there will be a couple of posts which will mysteriously appear as having been posted before this one… backdating is cool. However, this was too cool to not post immediately. I’ve been trying to get good lightning photos for a while now, and have basically figured out the right settings for the camera in manual mode to capture lightning, assuming it happens in the 30-second exposure time in the direction the camera is pointed. Tighten down the aperture (F10 works pretty well) and use a relatively low iso (100-400, depending on how close the lightning is striking), and use the aforementioned 30-second exposure. Hit the shutter, then cross your fingers. Using a high point in the distance (mountain, etc) is a good idea, since that’s typically where the ‘random’ lightning is going to strike anyway. If you’re lucky, you get an image like this:
This particular strike occured over in the Dragoon mountains to the east of Tombstone. I had the 75-300mm lens on the camera, and had it zoomed in to 255mm… which is zoomed in really, really far. I’d rather be lucky than good though. The post title thumbnail is a 1:1 crop from an image I shot with the 18-55mm lens on, at full-wide. Little lightning bolt that I had to crop out of a bunch of black sky. The above picture, in its uncropped view is below, so you can see just how lucky I was to get a shot that filled the viewfinder:
Like I said, I’d rather be lucky than good…
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