photography hints

[Craig.]

Well before i do a major search and become confused by money costs and silly terms, i thought i would ask here as there is a great number of people here with an interest in photography who might be able to help better. Ok enough butt kissing:)
Basically begining of june i am heading to the US to visit this college. At that time of year thunderstorms are a pleanty and i would love to get some good lighting and storm shots with my SLR, however since i dont have reaction times like superman whats the best way to get lightning shots? and what sort of settings would be best? I am hoping to get to the space rocket center while there so hopefully some other interesting photos to post here.
Cheers for any help guys
Craig

[BFMF]

whats the best way to get lightning shots?

I'm no photography expert, but if you had a video camera, you could take a still. Or if you had one of those expensive cameras where you could leave the shutter open for a certain period of time you may be able to do it that way

[Craig.]

lol yes its one of those expensive ones with a time option on the shutter, but for that i would need to buy a  tripod really.

[Woodlouse2002]

The don't have to be that expensive. If you get a fairly old Canon or Pentax then it should have the time option. A little wheel on top. You could probably get one for

[Craig.]

i already have the camera:) Its a minolta X370 while its a little old, still see them selling close to

[Fozzer]

....whats the best way to get lightning shots?....
Cheers for any help guys
Craig

Hi Craig...!
My method, which works every time, is to wait until the clouds get really black overhead, it starts to rain and the runble of thunder is 2 seconds away, then get your best mate to stand at the top of a hill, holding up a metal fishing rod. With your camera firmly positioned on a tripod a safe distance from him, and grasping a bellows attached to the shutter mechanism, wait for the blinding flash which will evaporate your best mate, and then quickly squeeze the bellows.
A perfect lightning picture guaranteed every time...
...trust me... ...!

Cheers Craig... ...!

Paul...Photographer to Prince Philip.. ...!

[Hagar]

What happened to that digital camera you got a while back Craig? I haven't seen you post many shots lately.

I'm no photographer but do know you'll never be quick enough to get a lightning flash manually. If you don't have a tripod rest the camera on the windowsill or something. A friend of mine won a competition with a photo of a lightning flash using this method. It was a time exposure & sheer luck.

[Craig.]

Mr Fozzer, that whole reply had me in fits:) thank you mate.

Mr Hagar. I havent found much of interest to take pictures of :-/ i generally dont get out much and when i do its never to anywhere worthwhile photographing. I am hoping with this upcoming move and then college in America it will open up the options for its use. I have been wanting to get upto bristol airport and get some shots, but with the bad weather and cost to get there its not to appealing right now. fear not though, more of my semi fuzzy shots will come soon when i get to visit cosford:)

[BFMF]

What part of the US are you going to? If you were still planning on Tennesee, you could go tornado chasing and get some really cool photos

[Scottler]

I would definitely mount the sucker on a tripod (you can pick them up very cheap for the type of work you'd be doing) and use a very small aperture and a very slow shutter speed.  

[Rifleman]

If you can get your hands on a light meter, you can set the shutter duration to match the aperture and still get a properly exposed image and if the lightning strike occurs during the shot,... bonus !
This is the way I shot night arrivals and departures at YYZ.

[Craig.]

thank you for the advice:)
Obviously its quite difficult to practise this type of photography where i live as i havent seen lightning in months and a full on storm in years. So the first thing i shall be picking up is a tripod.

[chomp_rock]

This: http://www.lightningphotography.com/tips.html site has some hints for lightning photography

[Craig.]

thank you for the link:) Very helpful

[Craig.]

What part of the US are you going to? If you were still planning on Tennesee, you could go tornado chasing and get some really cool photos

gonna be in northeast mississippi, just along the TN AL borders. Hopefully i will get a chance to gets some tornado pictures in the area. Definatly no problems with the storms, pleanty of those:)