How Was This Shot Taken?

I get asked that a lot when it comes to lightning shots, so I thought I would explain how this shot was taken.

Living in Denver it is quit easy to locate a nice thunderstorm in the summer. When I noticed one coming, or heard one, I checked the Doppler radar to try to catch the right part of the storm. You don’t want to be in it’s direct path if at all possible.

I watched the direction of the storm and setup the tripod trying to anticipate the direction of the storm. I always like to have something in the foreground to make a visual connection to. In this case there was a nice FAA Long Range Radar to use as a subject of contrast.

I set the camera on the tripod….focused on the Radar….set the ISO as low as possible. I used a wide angle for this shot. Something around 15mm I believe. I placed the camera in Manual mode and checked the shutter speed. I like to keep it around 10 seconds if possible. For this shot it was 8 seconds. I then use the lock on the cable release to keep the camera shooting frame after frame until there is a nice bright flash to inspect.

This was an amazing site to behold. You could watch the lightning snake across the sky. The distance across I estimate at 5 plus miles. It was really something.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.