From earlier tonight.  Had a quick storm pass through so I went to a couple pre-scouted locations to try to capture some lightning.

1.  The first site was a bust.  First I had to run off a couple pervs and then the lightning was too high up and was blocked by the rain.  It was interesting, though because you could see it flashing over the ridge there, and knew it was coming closer.  Then there was one low rumble of thunder that lasted at least 15-20sec coming up the river. Everything got quiet and then the wind hit like a train, followed by sideways rain.  At least I got a beautiful shot of the river and some fog beforehand.


2. I knew it was a thin band of storms from the radar, so I just changed locations where I could face East and shoot its ass-end as the storm went away.  I was initially afraid all the lightning would be up in the clouds, since this was the case the last time I went out.


3.  This time, I wasn't disappointed.


4.  Unfortunately, me being a bit rusty and forgetting to put my hat over my lens, I got lots of water spots.  This shot I did a little quick post processing on to lighten up the tree and even some colors out.  The way it's compressed you can see the halo which sucks and I'll have to go spend some more time on it to make it better, but here it is.  

Very nice!

Do you use one of those lightning triggers, or do you just take repeated exposures hoping that one of them will get a good bolt?

I take long exposures.  Probably took a little less than 100 last night to get the 4.  

ISO 400
30s  @ f8

Awesome!

Sweet !

that storm last night had alot of cool lightning, good photo

We get some good storms through here and I would love to try this. Thanks for posting up the settings you use.

No problem.  The hardest part is not the camera settings, but positioning yourself correctly to get the right shots.  I'd say I get a usable photo probably 40-50% of the time I go out, if less.  I look at my local weather radar and see where the storm is tracking, then I pick from a group of spots that I pre-scouted and go to it.  I usually like the rule that, if it doesn't already look good without lightning, then it probably won't look good with it.  

Typical settings are 20-30sec @f8 with an ISO of around 400.  If the lightning is really bright, I might make the aperture smaller, and vise-versa.  I've had it wide open some times and a close strike can make the entire image white.

That's cool. I'll try to spot some places around town that may be good. I know that there is an abandoned gas station north of town which I could use for shelter and get some great shots of the storm over the prairie.

Being in IL, you're pretty lucky in that you can see a storm coming pretty far off.  Downside is I believe they come on a lot faster.  Parking garages are always a safe bet in storms if you can find one without obstructions like telephone poles and wires and general sprawl.  Keep tabs on the prevailing winds in your area, where the storms come from which is usually West -> East of some form.  And sometimes it's better waiting out the storm and shooting its ass-end right after it passes over.

I've just started using this website to help out.  I think there's an app, but it gives boxes instead of expanding dots.

 
It'll be a double edged sword for sure. I can see them coming for miles, but I'm in an area where storms can turn very dangerous very quickly. I'll certainly need to take a safety first approach to this. I don't want to get carried away like Dorothy.