Thunderstorm

Equipment

    -SLR camera with B shutter speed, or a digital camera if it has a B shutter speed.

    -Lenses range from 28mm to 135mm.

    -A good tripod

    -Cable Release

    -Slow speed film: 100 or 200 ISO

Location

    -Choose a place that stays dry during rain (ex. under a roof) and not to close to city lights. Avoid the roads and seek a small trail to stay safe from drunk drivers. 

     -Choose a view where the sky is optimal. 

      -Situations to AVOID when 10km or closer during a storm:

           *Being on a dike, hill or other tall objects.

           *Being in a open field

           *Being at or in a body of water

           *Near trees

           *Near fences or power line poles

           *Being indoors and very close to a window

    *REMEMBER: shooting overhead lighting is very dangerous especially when outside and no

                               coverage.

Suitable Thunderstorms

       -Not all thunderstorms are good for camera shots. Just observe first to see what kind of lightning it 

         is.

       -Here are some conditions that are of little or no use to photographing lightning:

         *Sheet-lightning (although some may be beautiful)

         *Far away thunderstorms (>25km) and are embedded in low-level clouds 

         *Lightning striking every 15minutes or longer.

         *Lightning that is surrounded by rainfall. Rain can wash out the color of the lightning and

           produce scattering or low contrast photos.

       -Examples of Interesting Shots:

          *Isolated active thunderstorms

          *A squall which is the line of thunderstorms that sometimes form ahead of a cold front. Which 

            are very active thunderstorms. There may be rainfall, but you will still be able to get a few shots.

Technique

       -Make sure the camera is on a tripod with a cable release. Do not move it at all during the exposure 

        or your picture will turn out blurry.

       -Leave the shutter open until lightning occurs.

Exposure

       -There is no accurate exposure for lightning but here is a guideline to use:

  Lightning Brightness                                             Film ISO   Aperture

  Very close-blinding CG lightning(<100m/yds)       100 ISO      f/16-f/22

  Relatively close-blinding CG lightning(-1km)        100 ISO     f/11

  Distant CG lightning(5-10km)                                100 ISO     f/5.6

  Distant CC lightning(5-10km)                                100 ISO     f/4

  Distant CG/CC lightning(10-20km)                       200 ISO     f/4-f/5.6

  Remote CG/CC lightning(20-50km)                      200 ISO     f/2.8

(CG= cloud-to-ground, CC= cloud-to-cloud, IC=intra-cloud)

   -If lightning is very far away, such as >50km than you need to use a fast speed film like 400 ISO. 

Have fun and BE SAFE!! :)