Lightning storm

[MarvinTheSpartan]

I've been wanting to try for a while and finally got a chance to photograph a lightning storm. I wasn't thrilled with what I got, but figured I'd share a couple of my better pictures and look for some tips and tricks from the pros. (step 1, get my porch overhang out of the frame)

[jcuknz]

Easy enough to clone some sky to cover the porch. Interesting it is sharp while the tree is blurred ... guess it was rather windy I am sure some of the better lightning photographers have optical triggers working off the lightning flash?

[bnnrcn]

I find the first image better as the blur and the highlights on the right distracts in the second

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[IzzieK]

Amazing how in some places like ours, we were having a heat wave and you are just over our border and you have all kinds of sky activities...Nice shot....I like the first one too though the second one can do with either a patch tool, clone tool or Content Aware...

[MarvinTheSpartan]

Thank you for the replies. I had used a slow shutter speed, 5-10 seconds, so I could actually catch the lighting, however, I wasn't thinking about how windy it was and the fact that the trees were moving quite a bit.

[Ziggy]

You are braver than me Mike.

I always ask the wife to take this kind of shot.

[Stagecoach]

Thank you for the replies. I had used a slow shutter speed, 5-10 seconds, so I could actually catch the lighting, however, I wasn't thinking about how windy it was and the fact that the trees were moving quite a bit.

I would love to be able to capture some like this but have not had the chance yet.

As for the foliage blurring I wonder if this is caused by ambient light present during the entire exposure or excessive wind at the instant of the actual lightning illumination?

Is the solution to use a smaller aperture and lower ISO so that the ambient light before the strike has less impact, I'm sure the experts can advise.

[MarvinTheSpartan]

I would love to be able to capture some like this but have not had the chance yet.

As for the foliage blurring I wonder if this is caused by ambient light present during the entire exposure or excessive wind at the instant of the actual lightning illumination?

Is the solution to use a smaller aperture and lower ISO so that the ambient light before the strike has less impact, I'm sure the experts can advise.

In my case, it was just really really windy, the trees were moving quite a bit. I didn't think of it until after I was back inside and took a look at the pictures.