They didn’t have a camera…not even a film camera. Of course, then, Camera would have been known as the God who captured the God of Lightning; which brings us to the purpose of this article: photographing lightning with a digital camera without getting fried. Although there is no guarantee that your equipment won’t be hit by lightning, we’ll try to do our best to prevent that.

Open the shutter long enough, and you might catch two or more lightning bolts in a single photo!

Lightning Photography equipment needed

• A digital camera. You really need it, we’re talking from experience! You don’t need a DSLR, but be sure your point-and-shoot camera has some basic manual settings. We’ll list which settings are needed in a little bit.
  
• A tripod. Although you could do without it, it’s highly recommended. A monopod could be useful if you’re not photographing lightning at night. If you’re planning on shooting lightning during the day, then handheld would also be okay.
  
• An extra battery/set of batteries. You don’t want to run out of those in a middle of a beautiful thunderstorm!
  
• Storage. Be sure to have a memory card that can store at least several hundred shots, especially if your camera doesn’t have a bulb setting or if you’re planning on shooting lightning during the day in continuous (burst) mode.
• If you don’t want the camera’s lens to get wet, a UV filter is a great option. In fact, many purchase a UV filter just to protect their lenses.
• If you are planning on setting up your equipment in a place that doesn’t have a roof, then think about getting a waterproof case for your camera. An umbrella alone will not save it from moisture!
  
• Cable release. It’s a cable which lets the photographer release the shutter remotely, which eliminates camera shake caused by the finger pressing the shutter button. Don’t worry if you don’t have it or if it’s not available for your camera model. Unless your camera model has a bulb setting (which involves pressing on the shutter button) and you were planning on using it, it’s really not that necessary.
  

If you don’t want to go thunderstorm hunting, you can stay at home and try to capture the lightning strikes. If you live in a city, then this is the easiest scenario, especially if you have a balcony in a tall building. And it helps if no surrounding building is blocking the view. Be aware that, although a balcony is not as exposed as the roof of a building, you could get struck by lightning!

In case you’re outside, be sure there’s an enclosed building nearby you could seek shelter in. After all, we want to survive the photo session and brag about how we took those lightning pictures!

Photographing lightning during the day

Now let’s suppose it’s daytime, so we’ll prepare the camera accordingly:

• Manual Focus at infinity.
• If you are planning on shooting handheld, choose a wider aperture (smaller F-Stop number). This will allow you to set a faster shutter speed, eliminating camera shake.
  
• Choose the best shutter speed for the aperture you set earlier. Or just put your camera in Av Mode (Aperture Priority) and it will set the shutter speed automatically.
  
• Set your camera to continuous shooting mode (burst mode). This will prevent missing some really valuable lightning bolts! If the camera’s on a tripod, turn on the camera’s self-timer and set it to the maximum amount of shots possible, with the briefest shutter interval (time between shots).
  
• A high ISO is not needed, so ISO 100 is good.
  
• Point your camera in the right direction, and execute!

Photographing lightning at night

At night you will need different settings:

• Manual Focus at infinity.
• You don’t have to set the widest aperture, even at night, because setting the shutter speed at 15 seconds or even more sometimes (bulb setting) means very bright surroundings, especially in urban areas.
• The shutter speed and ISO are up to you. So experiment! But know that the lower the shutter speed, the longer the shutter is open, and the higher the chances of capturing multiple lightning bolts, several seconds apart, in one photo. As a side note, it is known that noise in the picture is more visible when photographing with low shutter speeds (several seconds or more).
  
• Turn on the camera’s self-timer and set it to the maximum amount of shots possible, with the briefest shutter interval. Continuous shooting mode is a good option at night only if you have a cable release, because if you keep the shutter button pressed all the time through several 15 second shots (and the time between those that the camera needs to process them), then you won’t only have extremely blurry pictures as a result, but an awfully numb index finger as well!
• Do I need to remind you to point the camera in the right direction?

If you have some lightning photography techniques to share with us, then please contact us.

You should take safety precautions whenever you’re planning on photographing lightning! Visit the Lightning Safety page on the noaa.gov website.

But that’s not what street photography is, anyway. Basically, it’s taking pictures in public places.

And the picture doesn’t have to include people or streets. Photography has no “rules”; just be creative and use everything you’ve got to obtain that picture you envisaged.

Some prefer not to walk around while street photographing, and instead of getting up close and personal with their subjects, sit in their car, for example, with a telephoto lens, and “spy” on them. Although too much of the latter would be, by pretty much everybody’s standards, plain stalking.

You can’t capture smiles like these with a telephoto lens. And the eye-to-lens contact is priceless! Two men from Ecuador in the above image. We met them in Manhattan. What a great shot! Thanks guys!

In some countries, it’s illegal to take photos of strangers without their consent, but this won’t be discussed in this article. We will instead try to have fun discussing street photography, and will leave the legal side of it alone. The laws of one country (or state) differ from those of another anyway, so ask if it’s legal or not in your country if you’re really concerned.

Times Square at night.

There are many ways to take a picture of someone on the street. The more you practice, the more techniques you discover. Although some photographers frown upon the “spying” techniques of street photography and prefer asking for permission before shooting, it really comes down to personal preference. Besides, in many instances, when you ask for permission, the genuine feeling of the composition just isn’t there anymore. And you could always take the picture, then ask if you could keep it.

A hot dog stand in Manhattan, and a smiley face behind it. Sorry about the highlight clipping. We couldn’t take our time shooting as we were in a real hurry.

The following techniques might help if you want to take pictures as stealthily as possible:

• Ask for permission, then take all the time you need to compose, then shoot.
• Shoot the subject, then ask for permission to keep the photo. If you are really afraid of saying that you already took the picture because the subject looks so mean that he/she could break your camera, then ask for permission to shoot after taking the picture.
• If you have a wide angle lens, then you can get close to your subject and include them in your shot without them even knowing. That’s because your camera was not directed at them when you took the picture. This way they will be on the left or right of the photo, and you’ll get a nice photo that complies with the “Rule of Thirds“!
  
• If your digital camera has a swivel screen, hold it at waist level and start shooting. You will look as if you’re just looking at the gadget, and not shooting photos with it. Even if there is no swivel screen, you might try shooting several times from waist level, then, in review mode, keep the best photo and delete the rest.
• Like stated earlier, you can shoot with a telephoto lens from a chosen spot, like your car, or while sitting on a bench, for example. But be aware that using a telephoto lens will result in a much shallower depth of field, thus isolating the subject from its surroundings and losing details. But this might not be such a bad thing after all; it all depends on how you visualized the photo in the first place.
• Using an ultra compact digicam often goes unnoticed.
• If someone is moving towards you, aim the camera at them and shoot, or aim it a little ahead so that you take the picture when they come into the frame. Hold your position until they’ve passed. This way it will look as if you were photographing something that’s beyond them.
  
• Shoot from behind.
  
• Let someone you know pose for you, and pretend that you are taking their picture while focusing on someone else.
  
• Don’t take pictures of people. People don’t have to be included in the shot for it to be called a street photograph.
• If you are photographing children, it’s always better to ask their parents first.
  

Times Square, different angle.

Stealth and asking for permissions aside, here are some hints you might consider while street photographing:

• Give Black and White photography a try. Often the colors aren’t important in a photo; they might even be redundant.
• Be patient. If your subject is aware that you’re photographing her/him and you wanted a candid shot, just wait and there will come a moment when this awareness goes away, if only for a second.
  
• Use the Continuous Shooting Mode. You’ll be able to filter the results afterwards and keep the best picture.
• Use bracketing. Like in the previous tip, you’ll be able to review and keep the best photo later.
• Choose your settings beforehand. In most cases, the ISO and aperture can be set in advance. This will help you take the pictures as quickly as possible.

If you have never tried street photography, grab your camera and go out. It’s fun, and sometimes you get to interact with people. Be confident, and don’t let yourself feel that you’re doing something wrong. Unless it is wrong and illegal where you live.