The news from New York prompted me to dig out this shot taken many years ago on slide film. It’s my only reasonably successful image of lightning. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the original to attempt a new scan and this copy was a bit of a mess.
Shooting lightning is, of course, completely hit and miss. The technique is to leave the shutter open for several seconds at a time and hope that one or more bolts of lightning strike during that time. That should also allow a certain amount of ambient light to register in the foreground, although this shot was taken in the middle of the night – you don’t get to control when the storm hits. Obviously being outside in a thunderstorm with a camera on a tripod isn’t the cleverest idea in the world, and this one was taken through my bedroom window!
