Welcome to my World
of
Lightning

Lightning is something every photographer strives to capture at some point during the hobby, together with the moon, the sun, planets, rainbows and a few other extraordinary events.  It's such a rare occurrence in the UK, especially at night which is the best (and easiest) time to try your luck.  Of course, it's possible to try and capture lightning during the daylight hours with the use of a good ND (Neutral Density) filter which would allow longer shutter speeds.  Or you could simply keep clicking in the general direction of a storm and hope for the best!  I've always loved storms and love to watch the lightning over the sea (from the warmth and comfort of my car preferably!) but have never yet taken a photo of such an event over the sea.  One day, maybe!

For now, I was lucky to have a storm late one night and decided to set the camera up on a tripod just outside the back door.  The scenery isn't great but hey, I got some lightning photos!  I set the camera to manual, focused on infinity and it's maximum 30 second shutter speed. (My camera didn't have a B setting)  I then hoped for the best - a lightning strike within that 30 seconds before the shutter closed again.  As luck would have it, the storm intensified and I was able to get several flashes, popping the lens cap on after each one otherwise the image was just washed out with a frenzy of lightning strikes.  I played around with the settings too and here are some of the results.

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