Have you ever wanted to know how to capture stunning images of lightning? Contrary to what you may think, the process is relatively simple provided that you have the correct equipment, a promising location and, of course, a very big electric storm. I took the below set of images a few nights ago as the first electric storm of the summer, creating a spectacular contrast of lightning bolts and sheet lightning. I have included a short explanation beneath some of the images which, together, should give you a fairly good indication of how to get these types of shots…
The lightning bolt looks as though it is right behind us, however it was actually a few kilometers away. I had used my wide angle lens at 16mm, to include the vehicle and with a bit of luck the above bolt struck to the left of it giving the image an interesting twist. Wide angle lenses are the way to go when photographing lightning as you can never be quite sure where the next bolt will hit.
Rich Laburn is filmmaker, photographer and writer who is based at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. Spending his time capturing scenes of the wild and communicating the beauty of the African bushveld, he runs the Londolozi Blog as a way to entertain and engage people wishing to visit these wild lands.
