Storms

[Buckster]

The two basic methods I use are:

1. Old school: Trip the shutter for 30 seconds at a time over and over and over while pointed in the general direction I think I might get some lightning. At the end of the night, delete 99.9% of all shots and keep the couple or few that have lightning on them.

2. New school: Use a lightning trigger. There are a bunch of them available these days on the net. I've got a couple different brands and they both work great. The best thing about them is that you don't have to use a long shutter, so you can shoot wide open in the daytime during a storm if you want to.

 

[bc_steve]

A lightning trigger eh? Never heard of that. I use the old school method that Buckster is talking about, except I prefer to use much shorter shutter speeds. Like 1-5 seconds, and I use one of those cable release switches that can be locked in the pressed position and put the camera in continuous mode so it keeps taking picture after picture ... then delete 99.9% and hopefully the 0.1% that's left is decent!

I like a shorter shutter speed because than you only capture one strike which is more like what you normally see with your own eyes.

Also recommended is a spot where you will be sheltered from heavy rain!

 

[Michael79]

Thanks for your help, we been having storms hear in the New England for the past 2 weeks straight. Might as well try to learn something.

 

[ktan7]

Crazy storms! Thanks for sharing these.