How to Photograph Lightning {Simple and Sweet}

Lightning is simply astonishing to me. The sheer energy and beauty of God's display is just astounding. Each time a storm builds, I watch for lightning, in anticipation of a powerful display in the sky.

My favorite lightning shot that I have captured. 18mm, f/4.5, ISO-200, 15 sec.

But capturing lightning with a camera can seem elusive. But really, it's not too difficult to do. Here is a quick run down of what you need to do, and then I will further explain each step.

1. Be safe.
2. Use a tripod.
3. Set your ISO to 100 to 400, depending on how distant the storm is.
4. Set your aperture, again depending on the distance of the lightning, but usually f/9 to f/11 is a good starting point.
5. Set your shutter speed to BULB or to 10 second intervals.
6. Compose your photo.
7. Find a distant focus point.
8. Switch the auto focus off.
9. Use a cable release or remote shutter release.
10. Open the shutter and wait for the lightning.
11. Close the shutter.
12. Have patience.

Pretty simple.

Now let's delve deeper into it...

Cloud to cloud lightning.  18mm, f/4.5, ISO-200, 11 sec.

Be safe.

If you can hear thunder, you can be struck by the lightning, so shoot from a safe spot. This may be from your porch or inside a vehicle. You will want to avoid standing in an open field or under a tree, though. An awesome photo will do you no good if you aren't alive to share it.

Use a tripod.

Shooting lightning just isn't possible unless you have a steady surface to rest your camera. You will need to use a slow shutter speed because no matter how quick your finger is on the shutter release, you won't capture the lightning if you wait to push the button until you see the lightning.

Set your ISO.

Your ISO will depend on how distant the storm is. If the lightning is pretty far in the distance, you will need to up your ISO to 400 or so to be able to capture the light. But if the storm is pretty close, the lightning will be brilliantly bright, so bring your ISO down to 100 or 200.

Set your aperture.

If the storm is in the distance, you will need to let in as much light as possible, so you may want to shoot wide open, around f/5 or wider if your lens will open up more. If the lightning is nearby, start with f/9 to f/11 since the light will be quite bright.

These bolts all struck at the same time. 18mm, f/4.5, ISO-200, 3.7 sec.

Set your shutter speed.

If your camera has the BULB setting, that is where you want to be. Otherwise, set it for a long shutter speed, starting with 15 seconds. Then adjust as necessary, depending on how much action is going on around you. You may need to go as long as 30 seconds or even a minute at a time.

Compose your photo.

Because you can't predict exactly where lightning will appear, composition is a difficult task. However, as you watch a particular storm, you will see a general area to train your camera towards. When composing your photo, if you can include a foreground object like a tree or a bridge, the image can be more compelling. But with lightning, a lot of times it is just plain luck.

This photo includes the Washington bridge over the Missouri River, creating a very appealing composition
with the lights on the bridge and the extremely close lightning reflecting in the river.
Photo by Adam Gerdes Photography

Find your focus.

This can be difficult, but don't be intimidated. Try to focus on the distant horizon or a far away light. If necessary, have a friend hold a flashlight 100 yards away and focus on that point. You can also set your focus to infinity (the little sideways 8) and adjust from there. Another tip is to use your LCD screen and zoom in on a distant subject to focus on it.

Turn auto focus off.

Once you have the camera focused, you want to make sure it doesn't try to refocus each time you press the shutter release. So flip the focus to manual, and you don't have to worry about it.

Use a cable release or remote shutter release.

Preferably, you don't want to touch the camera, as you want it as still as possible. Of course, sometimes that just isn't possible if 30mph wind is rocking the vehicle you are sitting in the back of.

My last capture before I headed back inside. 18mm, f/4.5, ISO-200, 16.3 sec.

Open the shutter...and wait...

If it is dark outside, then you won't have any problem leaving the shutter open for a full minute while you wait for lightning to strike within your frame. Take a few test shots at different shutter speeds to find out what is best for the storm you are currently watching. Start with 15 seconds, then go to 20 seconds, then 30 seconds...If the lightning is nearly constant, you may not be able to go more than 15 seconds before the photo becomes overexposed.

Close the shutter.

Generally, you will want to close the shutter after the lightning strikes. If you want to attempt to capture more than one strike in the image, keep the shutter open until you have another strike, or two. However, be careful about overexposing your image from too much light.

Have patience.

It's all about the light...and the light you want to capture is not a steady light, but an exceptionally sporadic and fantastic light that encourages you to just stare in awesome wonder.

See my other tutorials, including shooting the full moon and fireworks. Love one of my shots and want to have one for yourself? Visit my website or contact me today - I always love to hear from you! And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know about new tutorials, events, and specials!

Want to know more about Adam's bridge shot? See his story behind the shot and his tips for photographing lightning here.

Sweet Shot Tuesday - St. Louis Skyline at Sunset

"St. Louis Skyline at Sunset"

The story behind the shot:

On Sunday my husband Mike and I had a day without the boys. The plan was to go school clothes shopping and just spend some time together. There were no particular plans for "spend some time together," so I made sure to grab my camera and tripod on our way out the door.

The setting sun made for great shadows. 

By mid afternoon, our shopping was finished, and we were checking movie times for the mall cinema. We just missed a movie by 10 minutes, so we scratched that idea. In the car, I googled "things to do in St. Louis" - here we had 7 hours to do something before we had to be home, and neither of us knew what to do.

Most things that came to mind either cost more money than we wanted to spend or were evening activities that wouldn't be finished until late.

So, I talked Mike into just letting me take photos. Photography isn't his "thing," but he knows it is mine and agreed to drive me wherever I chose to go.

My first stop was the Laumeier Sculpture Park. There, we walked around the different sculptures, and I got some new photo letter shots. There were a few new sculptures in the park since we had last been there (about 9 years ago), the most interesting one to me being the large eyeball. But being the middle of the afternoon on a bright, sunshiney day, the harsh light just wasn't the best for great photos of the sculptures.

After the park, we had a nice dinner, waiting for the light.

It's all about the light...

The difference between a great photo and an amazing photo is the light. You can have an extraordinary composition, but if the light isn't right, the photo is a dud.

So we waited...

It was a beautiful evening for fishing on the Missouri River.

...and waited...until the sun set, the sky turned blue, and the lights of the city came on.

The weather was pleasant, and no one bothered us. Being a Sunday evening, the Eads Bridge had low traffic, so shaking was minimal, except for every 10 minutes when the MetroLink rumbled through underneath us (at which times Mike would quickly step as far from the edge of the bridge as possible...just in case).

We observed the riverboat and helicopter tours along the river, the massive barges pushing their loads, and a few St. Louisans stroll past us and over the Mississippi River.

It was a fairly sweet evening.

"Peeking Through" - I thought this one called for a vintage look.

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Sweet Shot Tuesday - The Road Home

Posting this image for the Sweet Shot Tuesdays hosted by Kent Weakley. The day was quite bright with gorgeous clouds floating across the sky, and I had been eyeing this tree nearly every day. Literally. I drive this road each time I leave my house.

So on this day, I stopped the Tahoe in the middle of the road and hopped out for a few snaps. Because of the extreme range of light, the shot straight out of the camera was quite unappealing. So I processed the photo in Photomatix, tonemapping the image to bring the photo to life. I then finished the processing in Photoshop.

Would you like to see the original? Here it is, next to the processed image:

How it Went: {Workshop} Simple and Sweet Photography Basics

Before our photowalk.

 <---There is my first workshop class! I was thrilled that 20 photographers packed the presentation room at St. Peter's UCC last Thursday!

The skill range was from beginners up to serious amateurs, so I was a little nervous, hoping that I would be able to share at least one new thing for each person.

After my presentation, I answered a few questions, and then we headed outside. The sun was beginning its descent and was lighting up the clouds just beautifully. Our route took us to downtown Washington, pausing to snap photos of gardens and historic brick buildings. The sky was a gorgeous and dramatic background, making it easy for my class to find beautiful compositions.

Dramatic clouds to the east during the sunset.

The sunset was stunning as it lit the sky on fire.

I really enjoyed walking with the class, stopping every little bit to help them find the compositions and settings they had in mind. My favorite was watching as they put to use the knowledge I had just shown them in class.

Understanding and comprehending the relation between aperture and depth of field, as well as how the exposure triangle works, can be intimidating. But I think it "clicked" with some of the attendees.

With the overwhelming response immediately after the workshop from people who had not been able to attend, I am looking at holding the photography basics workshop again. And, I hope to develop a series of workshops that focus on specific subjects, like the moon, fireworks, bokeh, aperture and depth of field, composition, and post processing.

Are you interested in attending a workshop? Please join my mailing list! There is a link to the right ---> at the top of the blog to enter your email address.

Would you like to have one of my fine art prints for yourself? Visit my website www.marcinkdesigns.com to purchase one. Note that even if you don't see it on my website, you can still purchase it - just send me a message at tyann@marcinkdesigns.com. And don't forget to follow me on Facebook!

Self portrait after the workshop. :)

How to Photograph Fireworks {Simple and Sweet}

Don't let photographing fireworks baffle you...fireworks really are simple to capture. The key to remember is your shutter speed. This is the time when you need to exercise patience and use shutter speeds of several seconds or longer in order to achieve the image you want.

There are a few tools that will make photographing fireworks very easy: a tripod, a cable or remote shutter release, and knowledge of how to change a few settings on your camera. Note that you can take photographs of fireworks without these tools, as there are workarounds for everything, but these tools will make the experience simpler.

Quick rundown of what is explained in detail below:

• choose a location
• use a tripod
• compose the shot
• f/11
• set focus to infinity and switch to manual focus
• ISO-100
• BULB
• open shutter when you hear the fireworks set off
• close shutter when you see the fireworks are fading

Now, here is further explanation:

Location
After you have decided on a location to photograph the fireworks from and have arrived early, it is time to set up your gear. Set your tripod up, giving you enough room that others will not bump it. You will want your camera perfectly still for several seconds to keep your images sharp.

Tripod
After attaching your camera to the tripod, you will want to compose your shots. If you don't know where the fireworks will explode, you will have to do this step as soon as the first few bursts go off.

Compose the shot
Note that when you compose your shot, you may want to include more than just the fireworks in the frame to give a more interesting composition. Look for trees, buildings, reflections, or even the crowd around you to include in the frame.

Aperture
Now it is time for the camera settings. Go to manual. That's right, out of auto and into manual. We will keep it simple, so don't worry. First set your aperture to f/11. This will give you a nice depth of field.

Focus
But, you want to use manual focus, otherwise your camera may take too much time intrying to autofocus for each shot. Those precious milliseconds might mean a lost shot. So focus on the first burst or on the horizon. Then, change the focus to manual. You can also manually focus to infinity.

ISO
Next, set your ISO to 100. You want your images to be free of any grain.

Shutter speed
The shutter speed is next. Fireworks are bright and will literally draw themselves into the image. So, we will need to be able to control how long we want the shutter speed to be. Turn the shutter speed slow...slower...past 2 seconds...past 10 seconds...past 30 seconds...all the way to BULB.

The BULB setting means that the shutter opens when you press the shutter button and closes when you release it...and this is where your remote shutter release comes in handy. Using the remote shutter release means you can keep your hands off the camera, reducing the risk of slight movement if you press the shutter release button on the camera.

Open the shutter
Yep, now it's time to press the remote shutter release button. To get the first trails of the fireworks, open the shutter as soon as you hear the first take off of the shells. Keep the shutter open as the shell bursts and the fireworks sparkle in the night.

Close the shutter
Once the burst has fizzled out, close your shutter. This is usually 2 to 5 seconds. That's it!

I would love to see your results. Post a comment below with a link to your fireworks shots and let me know how it went!

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