Lightning Strikes

I’ve always been one for storms, but due to our climate and the terrain we don’t seem to get very many thunder and lightning storms here in Vancouver. That all changed on Saturday. The day was hot and humid and unexpected to MANY people living in the Lower Mainland the storm clouds came in from the North East and provided us with a spectacular event along side the Celebration of Light 2009.

What do I like most about storms? The shear power of Mother Nature, though it wasn’t power she was showing us that night, it was the spectacular lightning strikes over and over again.

I love lightning and I wish we would get more storms. When we do get them here in Vancouver, they aren’t like this. Typically they are just bright flashes as the high-voltage bolts crack in the clouds. The lightning that night crawled across the sky, exploded in the clouds and more.

Overall I have about 10-15 photos of the lightning itself. Some are more bright than others but overall it was a crap-shoot to get any of them.

How To Take Photographs of Lightning

I don’t think there is much to say when you are trying to capture lightning. It isn’t like lightning itself follows the same path over and over again. Though I have learned (while watching a TV special on Nova) that lightning always strikes twice, it’s just too fast for us to see it do so. They used high-speed cameras to capture that lightning does strike twice in the same spot.

From what I remember of capturing lightning on film was it can be whittled down to luck and patience. I figured that if I did a long enough exposure,  eventually I would capture lightning streaking across the frame of the camera.

I set the camera up for the Fireworks on a tripod, pointed towards where we saw lightning bolts. Set the camera’s aperture as small as it would go with the lens I was using which was f22. ISO100 was used to ensure less grain and allow for a longer exposure. The shutter speed (or exposure) I set to BULB and did 10-20 second exposures, deleting any photos that did not have lightning in it. I easily deleted about 100 photos while doing this.

While doing this I also had to turn the camera occasionally as the storm passed over head. There were some pretty spectacular lightning forks in the sky and I did not capture them all, but I am glad I was able to capture some of them.

Were you able to capture the lightning from the other night? Have you ever captured lightning on film or in digital before? If so, share the link in the comment section below!

If you have another way of capturing lightning with using a camera I would also love to hear it in the comment section too!