Photo Feature By Dr. Roger Sauterer

How to Photograph Lightning

All photos copyrighted by the photographer. Please contact Dr. Roger Sauterer for permission for commercial use. Share your best photos with the JSU community online by sending them to alharris@jsu.edu.

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Dr. Roger Sauterer's lightning photos have "sparked" a lot of interest and questions. We asked him to reveal his technique. Here's what he shared:

The lightning shots are time expossures....generally I set the camera at F 9.5 (for really distant storms) to about F 22 for close-in or active storms. Exposure times vary...the hard part is to catch bolts without overexposing the clouds themselves due to internal lightning. That's why I prefer to use the slower f-stops such as 19 and 22 in many cases. Also, don't get greedy....capturing a few good bolts in an image is enough....close the shutter and go on to the next...this helps prevent over-exposed clouds. The big thing about lightning photography: It's 5% composition, 5% technical skill, and 90% dumb luck!!! Check these out.....They were taken a few hours after sunset....that srtorm was a monster!!

Night storm, Sanibel Island.

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