Shooting Lightning – Isn’t it amazing how photographers are able to shoot lightning? Well the process is really simple. All you just need is a wide – open landscape with lightning strikes, a tripod and your camera

Long exposures are required to capture lightning as it passes through the atmosphere. Well, some photographers are comfortable with really long exposures (some lasting between five to seven minutes)

“Cut” the exposures into bite-sized pieces (about 30 seconds each). Combine all the photos were you recorded the featured lightning strikes and combine them all into one photo. This can be done with Adobe Photoshop if you are comfortable with it.

You could still get good photos if you are not comfortable with image editing software. Just get a good tripod stand to keep your camera still during the exposure to reduce image noise to a minimum. Image noise is a fact of life you can’t remove completely.

Blurring and Dynamic Movement – Blurring is disliked by many, but when well used as an image effect could look very cool! Motion blurs could be accomplished by using a tripod stand and reducing your shutter speed.

As most DSLR cameras have a pre-set shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/250, try cutting down the shutter speed to just 1/50 and see what happens. With a good background and a moving subject, you could easily achieve a motion blur straight out of the camera.

You could achieve cool effects by placing your camera on a tripod and rail system so that it can move along with your subject. With the right timing, your subject will be clear and highly detailed, while the rest of the image will be blurred by the motion of the camera. Do not forget timing is important and don’t be afraid to make mistakes when trying out motion blurring.

I can understand your disappointment when you take pictures of waterfalls and other bodies of water that feature a lot of movement, just to get a still photo without life and without subject justice. To be able to create an illusion of movement in our photo, all you have to do is focus your camera and increase the exposure time. Blurring will be created easily within 30 seconds and there you are enjoying your output.