Fishing for Lightning: How to Capture Magic in a Box

by Miguel Cedillo

My first attempt to capture lightning in September of 2007. This frame was the strongest of the three hour session.

With all the recent thunderstorms over Omaha I’ve tended to stay home a lot more. As many people are inclined to do on rainy days I take to quiet, enjoyable pastimes, and my favorite is photographing lightning. Lately, I’ve realized that I wouldn’t enjoy it at all if I didn’t have a well-built passion for fishing. For me, the process of fishing and my method of photographing lightning have remarkable similarities. 

If you’ve ever gone fishing before, you know that it requires a positive attitude, patience, resilience, and an appreciation for the natural world. For many fishermen the experience of sitting still, repeating one’s efforts and engaging in the peaceful process are what it’s all about. When you set out to photograph lightning, the requirements and experience are deeply related. You have to be patient, you have to repeat the attempt over and over again without immediate results, and your heart, body and mind need to stay open to the joys of watching the water move while the clouds go by. You also have to be able to smile when you get wet. 

Shooting lightning is relaxing and fun for me, but just like with fishing I would never have success at it if I didn’t follow a few simple rules. The following tips are how I’ve been able to catch lightning in the past:

1. Be Safe: Some of us are big risk-takers, but gambling with lightning is fatally dangerous. Always try to set up under good cover. Try to find space from the rainfall, otherwise you’ll need rain covers for you and your gear.  If you’re exposed and/or at a higher elevation, your body and metal equipment make a great lightning rod, so a rubber mat is a good idea. When your hairs begin to stand straight up and the lightning is happening right above you, it’s time to go.

2. Prepare and Anticipate: As a photographer you have to commit yourself to getting the image you’re after, so give yourself a fighting chance. Set up a composition you truly like with a tripod, compromising between the prettiest corners and the hottest direction of lightning strikes. Make sure your batteries are fully charged and keep a lens cleaning kit handy. Then, get comfortable with a good chair and your beverages of choice. 

I was lucky enough to get this mild strike after about 90 minutes in to the 15 hours of "fishing" during June 2011.

3. Keep Your Shutter Open: The odds of successfully reacting to a lightning strike and pressing the shutter on time are overwhelmingly against the photographer, so what can we do? With an SLR and off a heavy tripod I run 30 second exposures over and over again, sometimes for six hours before getting an exceptional image. I recommend running these long exposures as frequently as possible, or using a manual cable release for the shutter. The manual cable shutter is even better than 30-second repetitions because you can expose the frame for as long as your thumb lasts, and I wish I had one. Don’t be afraid to crank the aperture down to 1/22 or deeper because the lightning will blast light everywhere and you’re going to want the depth for a sharper sky, unless you want to get bold and put in the work for shallow apertures and close foregrounds. Also, you won’t need much ISO.

 If I had not been reviewing my monitor when this occurred there would be twice the amount of bolts in the frame, but even so my set-up made this "keeper" possible.

4. Stay Positive and Diligent: The most incredible lightning strikes I have ever seen are the ones I didn’t catch on camera. Avoid the temptation to “chimp” over your frames, reviewing them on the monitor instead of keeping the shutter open. Yes, pressing the button over and over again, sitting in a chair and feeling stuck there can make one restless, but the reward of the successful moment is worth committing to. Capturing a mild strike or solid flashes offers wonderful contrast in the clouds, and this is just like getting a “bite” or a “nibble”. Activity in the frame is a good sign, meaning you’re casting your equipment in the right direction. Landing that big fish or strong frame is incredibly inspirational and makes the process worthwhile, and that’s what can make it peaceful and enjoyable if you’re open to the challenge. It’s a victory you have to experience to understand, and with enough dedication you will literally capture lightning in a box. You have to really want it, and have some love for the process of getting it.                

Good luck!