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<blockquote data-quote="RandyDSok" data-source="post: 180534" data-attributes="member: 201">I do enjoy getting lightning shots... For safety reasons, I will only take the shots when the storm is more than 5-10 miles away ... either as it comes in or leaves my area. This is another area that my radar software helps me judge the distance to a storm. There are electronic lightning triggers but they are outside of my budget, I just use a wireless shutter release and just spam the button since it's too late once you see a bolt. This is another area I use manual focus by finding the furthest distance set of lights that are typically on the horizon if they are taken at night. You could do something similar for daytime shots by finding the most distant object and focusing on it. Night time shots have a big advantage, you can set your shutter to stay open a couple of seconds increasing the chances of the shot capturing a bolt and not overexposing like a daytime shot would.Lightning of course is nothing to be lax about safety on. The last world record that I'm aware of is a bolt from a cloud on the east side of Oklahoma, landed 250 miles to the west side of Ok. That is probably an exception in distance but the point is that the bolts can still travel well out from a cloud and even the 5-10 mile range I use as a limit, carries some risk. Watching the storm before you setup and start taking the shots is recommended so you know the general behavior of how the lightning is striking in that storm system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RandyDSok, post: 180534, member: 201"] I do enjoy getting lightning shots... For safety reasons, I will only take the shots when the storm is more than 5-10 miles away ... either as it comes in or leaves my area. This is another area that my radar software helps me judge the distance to a storm. There are electronic lightning triggers but they are outside of my budget, I just use a wireless shutter release and just spam the button since it's too late once you see a bolt. This is another area I use manual focus by finding the furthest distance set of lights that are typically on the horizon if they are taken at night. You could do something similar for daytime shots by finding the most distant object and focusing on it. Night time shots have a big advantage, you can set your shutter to stay open a couple of seconds increasing the chances of the shot capturing a bolt and not overexposing like a daytime shot would. Lightning of course is nothing to be lax about safety on. The last world record that I'm aware of is a bolt from a cloud on the east side of Oklahoma, landed 250 miles to the west side of Ok. That is probably an exception in distance but the point is that the bolts can still travel well out from a cloud and even the 5-10 mile range I use as a limit, carries some risk. Watching the storm before you setup and start taking the shots is recommended so you know the general behavior of how the lightning is striking in that storm system. [/QUOTE]

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