Capture Lightning

Tracy

Hi Moose. I would love to get a great shot of the lightning we have over here in Australia. Right now it is our so called storm season. We had a lot of thunder and lightning tonight but I didn't know the settings for the shutter and aperture, so none turned out. I hope someone can help me. I found your two video's on you tube and enjoyed them. Hope you are able to add more if you get time to do them as yours are easy to follow. Thanks.

Moose

Hey Tracy - Got to love storm season! Ours is around June and July. Here's what I would try...


1. Mount your camera to a tripod
2. Enable Manual Mode by rotating the mode dial to M
3. Set the Aperture to f/8
4. Set the Shutter Speed to Bulb if you have a remote, otherwise set it to 30 seconds and set the release mode to Self-timer
5. Set the ISO to 100
6. On the lens, turn VR OFF & switch A/M to A
7. Set the AF-Area Mode to Auto-Area AF
8. Set the Focus Mode to AF-S

Half-press the shutter button to focus on a contrasty subject in the distance, then switch the A/M button to M. You can now shoot without having to autofocus each time

This setup should get you going in the right direction. If you're interested, I have a set of cheat cards for the Nikon D3200 that show you exactly which settings I would use for a given situation. You can check them out here: http://www.cameratips.com/d3200/cheat-cards

All the best! :)