There are a few things you can do when a lightning storm comes into town. You can either;
- Run away screaming and hide under your bed.
- Jam out to Thunder by Imagine Dragons.
- Get your camera out and set that long exposure to capture the magic.
I opted for two of these options, though I won’t clarify which ones exactly…
Embrace for the Long Wait
I took over one hundred photos and most every single one of them turned out like the picture above. Even with the long exposure, it’s a matter of looking at the right area where lightning will strike. Fortunately, I snapped the very top photo on my third try last night. After that I was just trying to get photos that were as epic looking.
Keep the Long Exposure Going
After being outside for quite a bit I decided to switch up my settings to find the best way to capture the lightning. I ended up using about a 5 second shutter because I noticed that with any longer only the brightest of lighting streaks would stay in my final exposure. With the 5 seconds I could have pretty good chances of getting the right photo at the right time and voilà! Seeing the Rexburg LDS Temple in my shot was also another plus to the magic of the night.
So next time a thunderstorm comes your way, find a dry place to set up your camera, lock it off on a tripod, and set the exposure just right. Oh, and point in the right direction. You’d hate to miss any of the good stuff.
