I live in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside, in an architecturally intriguing house with a loft that opens out to a porch. The house is just tall enough that the porch has an expansive view of the neighborhood. While hanging out in the loft two nights ago, we noticed some lightning strikes off in the distance accompanied by a distance rumbling.
I was excited by the prospects of photographing the lightning from my porch. I had never tried taking photographs of lightning before and it took me a while to figure out the best settings. Without a lightning activated shutter release, I ended up taking a burst of images after composing the frame and waited for lightning strikes in the frame.
I’m quite sure I need to learn a lot more on the best practices in taking these types of photographs but I am quite happy with my results!
If any of you are thinking of trying this, make sure to read about the safety measures that you should take. If you can hear the thunder, you are in danger of being struck.
Gaurav Balakrishnan 