Catching Daylight Lightning Doesn’t Have to be Tricky
The United States will see 25 million lightning strikes this year! What an opportunity to capture some great photos. Some of the most gorgeous lightning photos are during the daylight hours. Here’s some tips for daytime shooting.
1. It’s Lightning, stay safe storm chasers!
National Weather Service expects 49 deaths this year from lightning. Please be safe.
Check out National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for safety tips. http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/
Did you know, lightning can strike 10 miles from the storm?
Here’s some helpful hints:
- You shouldn’t be the tallest object around.
- Don’t shoot from under a tree, trees act just like lightning rods!
- Don’t shoot from bridges or the tops of tall buildings.
- A covered car can provide some protection. There is always danger, so make sure you educate yourself on the best safety practices.
2. Scout out locations
In my area, most storms come from the west, so I always keep my eyes open for buildings with a large overhang facing the west.
We’ve also found parking garages provide good vantage points. Going to the highest covered floor provides some shelter from the elements.
When scouting out locations, don’t forget to check for power lines. An otherwise beautiful photo can be ruined by power lines. Power lines are hard to see at night, but will be prominently featured in your beautiful lightning photos.
Daytime shooting allows you to add interest to your lightning photos. Plan your foreground carefully. The photo is no longer simply the lightning, but the composition! Set the shot to be interesting without the lightning.
Keep in mind, you’ll want to shoot much more of the sky than you normally would. This gives the lightning center stage.
3. Setting up your shot
Pictures turn out great when shooting towards the storm. Of course, you can still capture lightning while in the midst of the storm, but the more powerful shoots are captured before the storm hits.
4. Gear – tripods, triggers, lens
If you use a trigger, such as the Strike Finder 2, there is no need to use a tripod! You can shoot with a fast shutter enabling you to simply hold the camera. This allows for great mobility!
However, if you’re in the comfort of your home shooting from a porch or balcony, set up your tripod and trigger and simply sit back and enjoy the show. If you use a trigger, there is no need to try to time the shoots to catch the lightning. The trigger takes care of the timing for you! Set up the shot then relax.
Of course, you can always use a tripod and a long exposure if you’d like.
We always get asked which lens is best for lightning photography. It really depends on what type of storm you’re shooting. If the storm is upon you, you’ll want a wide angle. If it’s distant, use a telephoto lens. But don’t let a specific lens deter you from shooting lightning. You can capture lightning with any lens!
5. Under expose and shoot in RAW
The sky should be slightly underexposed. A blown out sky may not allow the lightning strike to show up. Just like with all photography, capturing images in RAW allows greater manipulation. The underexposed shot can be altered in post production. Many times lightning is present in your photos, but hard to see before you manipulate the exposure.
6. Shutter Speed
A fast shutter speed is no problem in the daytime. The picture below was shot at 1/1000 shutter speed. I was trying to catch the after glow of a vaporized air with the second shot.
However, a long exposure at night will allow you to catch multiple strikes. In the daytime, not so much.
7. Helpful Apps
The best app we’ve found is RadarScope. It’ll let you know when a storm is coming and what type of intensity you can expect. Here’s a great video explaining it.
8. It’s all about the aperture.
I typically start with an aperture of f8 and adjust the shutter until some of the sky is gray. If the strikes are further away I open up the aperture to let more light in (lower number). Then re-adjust the shutter speed to properly expose the sky.
9. Focus
Set your focus to just short of infinity. Make sure your camera is on manual focus. The trigger will capture more strikes if it doesn’t need to slow down to auto focus the camera.
As with most landscape photos, you’ll want to use the widest lens possible.
Did I miss some tips? Please add your best practices in the comments below.
I can’t wait to see what photos you come up with!!
