One question I get asked a lot is, how do you do lightning photos?

Well, I used to think it was pretty tricky too, until I learned the main rule. Lightning is wicked bright!

But it's also really fast, so what do you do? Well, the short, easy answer is you set your aperture to F11 or F16, then you set your shutter speed to the longest time your camera will do, Bulb is preferable. If you have a bulb setting, just hold the shutter open until lightning strikes in the area you're aiming and then close the shutter. That's it! You've caught lightning!

If you don't have a bulb setting, 30 seconds works good too. The trick here is that if lightning strikes 10 seconds after taking your shot you might want to cover your lens so you don't capture any more bolts that could just make a mess of your image.

With either scenario, you'll want to do a couple of test shots to see how well your landscape shows up. Depending on your ambient light you may need to open up or close down your aperture some. You want to ensure you can have the shutter open long enough to wait for a good bolt to strike. I don't recommend going below F11 as your Depth of Field could become too narrow.

Try to aim at landscape that has some character or interest because lightning alone isn't as interesting without good landscape to play off of. Also, be sure to focus on the horizon and turn off autofocus.

Remember to always shoot at your highest ISO (100 on most cameras, 50 if you've got it). This will ensure you get the sharpest, most noise free images you can get from your camera.