Joshua Nall
EF4
Wide angle lenses work well for lightning if you get close. I have a rebel XT and a Sigma 10-20 and have been very pleased with it. The thing about wide angle lenses is if you get close enough, and especially if you shoot vertically, the top part of the image will be looking almost directly overhead. This captures the lightning bolt and the structure where it intersects the cloud base as if you were looking up at it. Then at the bottom of the frame you have the bolt hitting the ground. I think it makes for an interesting shot. Whereas if you were further back using a longer lens the angle of view is more straight on and not as interesting. I took all of these shots with the Sigma 10-20 within about 30 minutes one evening. Some of them are cropped in just a bit, but I was closer than it looks, I like it that way... shoot from my truck with a window mount.
This one has some of the interesting structure at the cloud base:
This is an interesting shot, but the horizon is a little off. All of these bolts hit at one time.
Some others:
This one has some of the interesting structure at the cloud base:
This is an interesting shot, but the horizon is a little off. All of these bolts hit at one time.
Some others:
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