Storm and Lightning Photography: Safety, Settings and Technique

Storms produce some of the most dramatic skies in landscape photography — and real danger. Safety first, photographs second.

Safety

There is no safe place outdoors during a thunderstorm. Lightning can strike more than 10 miles from the storm.
Use the 30/30 rule: if thunder follows lightning within 30 seconds, take shelter; wait 30 minutes after the last thunder.
The safest place to photograph from is inside a hard-topped vehicle or a building, shooting a distant storm.
Avoid ridges, summits, open fields, lone trees and water.

Daytime storm structure

Supercells, shelf clouds and towering cumulus look best from a distance with a wide-to-normal lens. Side-light from a low sun makes clouds three-dimensional. A polarizer deepens contrast between clouds and blue sky.

Lightning at night

Tripod, manual focus at infinity (focus on a distant light).
ISO 100–400, f/5.6–f/8.
Exposures of 10–30 seconds, shot continuously with an intervalometer.
Each frame has a chance to catch a strike; stack several strikes in software later.

Closer strikes are brighter: stop down further if bolts look overexposed.

Lightning in daylight

Daylight strikes last only a fraction of a second. Options: a lightning trigger, continuous high-speed bursts, or 4K/8K video and frame extraction. A dark ND filter allows exposures of 1–4 seconds that increase your odds — use the ND filter calculator.

Planning

In the Southwest, the summer monsoon (July–September) brings predictable afternoon storms.
On the Great Plains, late spring and early summer are peak supercell season.
Watch radar and storm motion; position yourself so the storm passes beside you, not over you.