Distant lightning storm at night

timberghost

I would like to know the best way to capture images of a distant lightning storm at night where the lightning is putting on a breathtaking show. Please keep in mind I am a fresh newbie who gets lost after preset settings, but I want to learn. Would it be best to video and take pictures from within the video? Would the resolution hold up if you take a picture from the video? Thank you for your time and input. Peace.

tc2010

What I do is switch the dial on the camera to "Tv" mode (shutter priority). ISO I leave at 200. Then, set the exposure time to something around 5 seconds (play with the exposure time yourself). Using an external shutter release (with the camera on a tripod of course), I click away hoping to catch some lightning strikes. I've caught some fantastic ones using this method.

If you don't have an external shutter release, use the delay feature (set at 2 seconds) so you don't get blurry pictures.

tc2010

I changed my avatar to show strike I caught during a storm last year.