First time out shooting lightning!

[Mikayla Norris]

Last night I went out to photo some lightning from a cluster of non severe storms just southwest of San Angelo, TX. Out of about 300 shots, I managed to catch a CG strike 3 times. Unfortunately there is what appears to be a ton of messed up pixels throughout all of my photos. I was able to clean up most of it in lightroom, but I think the age of the camera is showing. It is an old Olympus E500 that my wife has, and I am using it to practice messing with different settings and learning more about serious photography before I drop the money on a nicer, newer DSLR.


2 sec exposure, ISO 100, F/22


10 sec exposure, ISO 100, and I forgot what the aperture was set at, but I wanna say F/10


30 sec exposure, ISO 100, F/8

 

[Greg Campbell]

Unless the lightning is REAL close, you'll want to use a wider aperture. With the ISO at 100, f/6.7 is usually a good place to start. If the lightning is too faint, open up, or bump the ISO if necessary. If the neighbor's tree is now on fire... THEN select f/22