Lightning show!

#1 and #7 are my favorites. As for C&C:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nature-wildlife/178922-lightning-c-c.html

A couple of mine I recently shot. I set the focus to infinity (basically just focused on the lights way off in the distance, then turned AF off), ran a F/10 or F/11 setting, and set the Shutter speed to 20 seconds. Realize, though, that it was really dark, and I could run a 20 second time without risking over exposure from the lights. I think they came out pretty well (Although as of this post I'm waiting for some comments myself), so I hope that can help you out a bit. During daytime, you may want a much lower time. If you can get ahead of the storm, do so, and take a few images of the sky with various settings to see which will give you the best balance of light vs time.

I shot with a Nikon D60 and an AF-S Nikkor 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 G Lense.
 
When shooting lightning, I set my aperture at about f11-f22, depending on other light sources (street lights, cars, etc.), focus to infinity, then back off just a bit. The DOF that you get from the small aperture should take care of anything that is OOF. Turn off autofocus and shoot at bulb.
 
As i have already stated many times, AF was off, it was set to infinity focus. I was doing everything manually. So if anyone has something to say other than "turn off AF", or anything to that nature that would be great! I don't mean to sound rude, but people keep saying the same thing over and over and i have already stated that i was using manual focus.
 
For a first attempt, that isn't bad, but you are definitely out of focus. You need to focus on a distant object, and then turn off the autofocus.

And what do you suggest I focus on? I am sitting out in the middle of the county w/ no lights around anywhere other than the flashes of lightning. And as i stated above, i did have the AF off and the focus point was set to Infinity.

As i have already stated many times, AF was off, it was set to infinity focus. I was doing everything manually. So if anyone has something to say other than "turn off AF", or anything to that nature that would be great! I don't mean to sound rude, but people keep saying the same thing over and over and i have already stated that i was using manual focus.

Hmmm....according to your pictures, you did have something to focus on. Down in the bottom left, there is what looks like a light from the top of a tower. Just like in astronomy, you slowly move the focus in & out until that point of light becomes as sharp as you can get it.
Even though the lens says "infinity", I never trust that setting, even on the best of lenses.....you need to find something to set your focus on, or you will get the results you posted. I always try to find a distant light from a farmhouse, cell tower, street light, etc...it can be pp'ed out later.
 

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