New to lightning photography...

[cstrunk]

So I was sitting at home last night watching the news and I saw that there were storms in northeast Nebraska. To me it looked like they were turning southeastward more towards where I live in southwest Iowa, even though the weatherman thought otherwise. So I kept a close eye on the radar screen throughout the rest of the evening and into the night and sure enough, they turned towards Omaha and headed southeast to me. I was hoping they would last long enough to be able to get some lightning photography experience, and they did.

I grabbed my camera (Kodak EasyShare DX7590, 5.0 MP, 10x Zoom) and went to my front yard and gave it a shot. Most of the lightning at first was too far away to get anything very good. I watched as the gust front raced towards me. As it got close I was able to get a few bolts. After it passed and got quite windy (40-50 mph or so) the lightning picked up and I was able to get a couple decent ones and one picture that I really find amazing.

I just thought I'd share some of them with you, and you guys and gals could let me know what you think of them.

Shutter Speed - 16 sec
F-Stop - 2.8
ISO Speed - 100

And now, my best picture of the night. I changed the F-Stop to 3.6 as the lightning was getting brighter. I just got lucky I suppose.

 

[Doug Lee]

A good beginning, I'd say. If this was your very first attempt at one of the most difficult areas of photograhy, you diefinitely have potential!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

That last one is sweet. Better than any I got from that storm. I really hate lines for photographing lightning. It was nothing but in-cloud crap as it blew through here. Could tell there were tons of crawlers but they were impossible to see till later. The line finally slowed up some and CGs began towards the south, surely ones you have pictured.

 

[Susan Strom]

I like that last one too. What I like is that the clouds and horizon give it scale. Sometimes a good lightning photo is more about the context in which the lightning is set, such as the good cloud texture in your picture. I also like the silvery colors. Keep shooting, looks like you're off to a good start!

 

[Gerrit Gulden]

your off to a great start. just be cautioned, once you get the bug it wont leave. I started about 5 years ago and have been hooked ever since. I would have never of guessed that I would be taking photos with an Easyshare, but the effectiveness of these cameras isnt bad at all. Ive managed to capture some amazing shots with my z730.

Keep up the work and experiment with different settings for each storm. It will only get better every time you shoot photos...

-gerrit

 

[John Olexa]

Yeah that last one is great! I agree, your off to a good start! My first time..... I shot 6 rolls of film and got nothing!! LOL I wasn't smart enough to know the storm was to far away to show nothng more then sheet lightning.