The thunder rolls.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I cant remember the last thunder storm we had here in Dublin but it is cracking the sky tonight.. No lightning but the cracks of thunder are MIGHTY.

My dog is taking shelter under my desk and wheelchair.

[BAZ Senior]

I like just being outdoors and feeling the power of it all. Millions of volts and amps right there! That's until I get too wet. Iv'e tried taking pictures of lightening, but never succeeded.

[Budgie]

Set your DSLR on a tripod with something like a 28mm lens on it and point in the general direction of the thunderstorm.

Set it on the Bulb setting, with a remote shutter control or timer, and open the shutter for about 10-15 seconds, during the day, and anything upto 30 seconds at night.

Once you see a flash of lightning, close the shutter. and see what you got.

This is best done from inside a house or car, for safety sake and you'll find that the lightning will know when you've closed the shutter on the camera as it will alway strike the second after!!

I've got a Boltek Lightning detector as part of my weather station and had lightning on there for most of the day. I did get some strikes from around Dublin but most was over towards Norway yesterday.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Martin what ISO setting would you use for imaging lightning?

Oh wait if you use BULB is the ISO automatic?

Can you tell i dont do much imaging?

[Budgie]

Daytime I would go for 100-200 ASA, nighttime then I would stick to 200 ASA but maybe try 400 ASA if you're in a dark area with no light pollution.

You don't want it too fast as you'll be taking long exposures.

On my Canon 400D the ISO is manual when using the Bulb settings, so it's worth checking what you have set it on.

[Earl]

Thunder & Lightning and the Freshness after !!!

Love it !

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks Martin. Knowing my luck we wont have another thunder storm for 10 yrs and there still wont be any lightning with it,LOL.

[Budgie]

I've only been able to capture lightning once, and that wasn't really worth keeping. Like you, we don't very much in the way of thunderstorms up here.

I did capture this Shelf Cloud back in 2006 though:

[LukeSkywatcher]

Amazing images. I didnt think shelf clouds happen in this part of the world. Then again i didnt think "Bubble" clouds happen in this part of the world either until i saw some myself a year or so ago.

[Budgie]

The Shelf Clouds don't occure very often in the UK, but with the right conditions.......

Mammatus clouds are quite common in the UK, we get quite a few up here and also Northern Ireland sees them on a regular basis.