
The hot and humid summer season is in full swing. The African thunderstorms have made a most welcomed return and for the traveler enjoying an African photo safari, capturing some of that enchanting lightning display is going to be enticing.
Every photographer has at one time or another tried to capture a lightning bolt, but more often than not it is easier said than done. To get that image, you not only need to have the fastest trigger finger but you also need to know your camera and how to set it in such a way that it is ready for that fleeting moment when the sky lights up and the clouds roar.
Although the area we do our safaris in does occasionally get the odd storm in winter, they are nothing as majestic as the summer storm. For this reason, if you are hoping to try your hand at some lightning photography, it is important that you book your African photo safari at the right time, which would be during the summer months.
A summer safari, while not as popular as the winter one, actually has so much to offer, well beyond the chance to experience a storm. Travelling on safari during an African summer can be cheaper, quieter, and greener. It is also a wonderful time of year to travel if you want to see some of the newborn wildlife.
First things first; just because the storm looks amazing and seems to be far away, safety is still of utmost importance. Just like the wildlife, lightning is unpredictable and dangerous, so always be aware of how close the storm is by paying close attention to the intervals between lightning strikes, the wind (if it is picking up it is time to get out), and the rain. No shot is worth risking your life for.
When you are sure that you are in a safe location, the next thing that you need to know is if you have the right setup. Some will swear by having a tripod, a remote shutter and a weather app, but some of the best photos have been taken on cellphone cameras, so don’t overthink your gear. Make sure you have a camera capable of taking long exposure shots and have some gear to protect you and your camera from the rain.
The ideal lens would be anything between a 14mm to a 200m, and you need to make sure that you have the right settings.
You are going to want to put your camera into manual mode so that you have full control over your settings, and then you are going to set your shutter speed to between 5 and 20 seconds (if you are shooting at night), and set your aperture to f5.6 or f8. Your ISO should be as low as it can go. Day time lightning photography is a lot trickier what with the lighting conditions, but if you want to give it a go set your ISO as low as possible, your aperture to f16 or higher, and play around with your shutter speed making it slow but not so slow that the image is totally blown out.
Practice will make perfect and you should expect to take a lot of images while learning the ins and outs of this kind of photography. And remember, even the best photographers will often end up stacking their images in a post production programme so don’t expect your images to look like one of those shots with dozens of bolts.