Newbie just starting, critique these photos

[Carder]

F/4.8, SS-1/4 sec, ISO was auto I think
F/5, SS- 1/8 sec
F 5.6, SS 1/320 sec
F 5.6, SS 1/400 sec

I'm not sure if I am posting these pictures right, but I'm giving it a try anyway. I am new to taking photos, so any critiques, suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

[JPS]

Hi,
Welcome to CiC.
You are posting correctly and I for one can see you picture perfectly. I certainly wouldn't like to be in that thunder storm. What part of the world was it taken?

Do you know you can add your first name and the area of the world in which you reside to your profile? Most people use their first names here and it’s always nice to know the area of the world you live.

Looks like you’re using Nikon D5100, very nice camera.
I look forward to seeing more of your work.

[Carder]

Okay John, how did you know I had a Nikon D5100? Just curious, I didn't see any replies to my other post. The pictures were taken in Orlando, Florida.

[BJ Denning]

http://regex.info/exif.cgi Here is an exif viewer. You can also get plug-ins for your browser to view image data -- camera type, aperature, focal length, date, etc.

[JPS]

Hi Carder,
Bryan is correct, I just looked at the exif data in your pictures and it shows the data Bryan stated. It's a good was to gather information about a picture, so you can give more constructive advice.

[KHarmon]

What time of day were the lightning pictures taken?

I take as much lightning as I can, and for night time lightning and the distance these are at I would suggest stepping down the F stop slightly (F8 seems to work for me) and I always shoot night time lightning at ISO 200 to ISO 400. Day time lightning is an entirely different animal and is more a "luck of the draw" proposition. I just posted these two as examples, not to hijack your thread. If you would like the images removed I will be glad to do so.

If you like lightning pictures, you're in the right spot. Florida is the lightning capital of the United States.

KHarmon

Day time,

IMG_1191 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 2
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 27 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV


Night time


110711lightning2 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 3
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 17 mm
ISO Speed 400