Some tips about lightnings

If you're looking for an exciting and rewarding hobby, taking pictures of thunderstorms just might fit the bill.

The photography aspect of catching lightning on film is extremely simple, and in most cases requires no skill or experience with a camera. But if you're interested in capturing a wide variety of lightning shots with different locations and subjects, photography is the least of the challenges.

Thunderstorms are an elusive phenomenon that rarely cooperate with a photographer. Not only that, but most storms won't come to you - you'll have to go to them. And so lightning photography, as a pasttime, will require a bit of storm chasing - an adventurous hobby in itself that involves forecasting, tracking, and driving to active thunderstorms, among other things. Due to this challenging pursuit, both storm chasing and lightning photography, for those who are so inclined, will likely become a lifelong hobby that will provide years of enjoyment.

It is worth mentioning the obvious that since lightning photography involves being outdoors in and around thunderstorms, it's an activity that can be dangerous if sensible safety considerations are not taken. But the participant who excercises common sense in the hobby will be just as safe as he or she would be collecting stamps.

This page will cover mainly the photographic aspects of catching lightning. A tutorial on storm chasing can get fairly deep, but we'll discuss some of the basics that will help you get started at the end of this article.

The Camera: In order to take photographs of lightning, you'll need to have a camera with a 'bulb' (time exposure) setting. Older model 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras with all-manual settings, such as the Pentax K1000 or Minolta SRT201, are relatively inexpensive (look on eBay) and work very well. These cameras are also more rugged and more resistant to the inevitable splashes of rain than expensive computerized cameras. Also, since your camera settings stay pretty much the same for every lightning photo session, all of the fancy automatic stuff isn't really neccessary.

Cameras used in any type of storm chasing will have to endure harsh conditions and lots of abuse (especially moisture), so you need to think twice before using your $2,000 camera to shoot lightning. Unless you've got a waterproof camera or proper protective gear, you're better off spending the $150-$200 on Ebay on a used manual SLR and lens that can take the heat, and won't be a big loss if it gets ruined. My old Pentax SLR has been dropped, rain-soaked, stressed, dirtied, shaken, baked in summer heat, frozen in winter cold, and taken years of abuse - but still catches lightning. All of the non-digital lightning photos on this site were taken with either the all-manual Pentax K1000 or the similar Minolta SRT201. Once again - your cameras will eventually get drenched a few times if you do this long enough - so plan accordingly.

Again, the Internet is one of the best places to find good deals on used, rugged camera equipment. I bought my Pentax K1000 body, a 28mm wide-angle lens, and a 75mm-205mm zoom lens on Ebay for under $200 total. [Read more...]

But if you cant spent some money to try or you do need your lightning photo urgently, simply create it with PhotoShop using the next video lesson:


Tutorial: Create Lightning In Photoshop - video powered by Metacafe