Night Lights

There was an impressive lightning show over Wiltshire last night (18 September 2014). All the action where I live took place behind the clouds but I managed to capture a few shots. 

The challenge with this sort of photography is setting the focus as accurately as you can and making sure the shutter speed is appropriate. The camera needs to be in manual focus mode as it's too dark for it to autofocus. However, if it's too dark for the camera to pick much out, it probably means it's too dark for the photographer to pick much out too! Sometimes it's possible to set the initial focus using a light source out of picture, such as a street light. 

The shutter needs to be fast enough to catch the lightening but not so fast that the camera has no time to expose the shot and most of the image remains in darkness. Too slow and you risk missing the lightening altogether. Often it comes down to estimating where the optimum settings are most likely to sit, followed by trial and error, making small adjustments as you go.