Lightning strikes - not

[astroturf (Bryan)]

Hi Folks

As a new owner of a Canon 40d, I strive for different subjects & different ways of phhotographing them

There's a severe lightning storm over Sydney right now, so I thought I might try my hand at some lightning shot's

What a laugh - not even close, either I mistime it or it's in a different part of the sky(there's plenty of subject material)

I've noticed some really good shots of lightning strikes on this site & I'm at a loss as to how it's done
Anybody prepared to divulge a few trade secrets or is it all about patience

Cheers
Bryan

[RB (Andrew)]

You may be better off trying this at night or late afternoon when it's v.dark.
This will let you set a longer exposure (say > 30 sec) on a tripod and give you a better chance of getting a strike in your camera's FOV.

[MrB (Simon)]

Don't try and catch it like a normal photo.
I set my digital camera for its longest exposure length(15seconds on one point-and-shoot, 30 on the other) and just try to catch as many as I can.
Active storms will get a few strikes per exposure, not-so active will record one, sometimes none. I just set it up on the tripod and make repeat exposures. As soon as one exposure is finished I open her up again.

With the old film SLR, I used to just set it to 'B' (Bulb) with a cable release and leave her open untill I get what I want. Sometimes it was overexposed but sometimes its a great shot.
If the storm is close I'd get a strike or two before over-exposure, so would need to play with apperature(trial and error) but distant storms(Horizon) could be left wide open for 10 or more strikes.
Daytime storms are tricky, but have tried stopping down to f16 and even used ND filters... yet to master it tho.
Just don't get enough good displays around these parts, been a fair while since the last good photographic storm.