Updated 4-20-06
"I shot this photo this past weekend during a thunderstorm," said Dan Polly. The lightning show was awesome, so I took a chance, grabbed my camera, and came away with this shot. The whole storm was very surreal, and this picture seemed to capture that feeling."
Dan used a Nikon D70 in Aperture Priority set to f-8 ("I'm a sucker for this mode!" he says). The ISO was 200, focal length 13mm, and the exposure was a whopping 25 seconds. This is the best way to catch lightning, by leaving the shutter open for a while. You can also go the other way and set the shutter to 30 seconds in Shutter Priority mode.
If you have an interesting candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.
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It's "lightning" -- not "lightening"
Ah, yes, the modern usage is "lightning." Thanks for the correction. I just looked it up to see how I went astray, and here's what the dictionary said:
Years ago the phrase "it is lightening" was contracted to "it is light'ning" and then became further shortened to "it is lightning."
I think it would be neat to see a post on shooting lighning. Tips on how to shoot it in different conditions such as pitch black, and evening twilight, etc...