I've never shot lightning before. Packing light, I brought my 5D2, 24-105L, 50STM, (and just because I had empty space) the 40STM, and a light tripod to a family reunion (oh joy!). I didn't think I'd really use the tripod.
So Sunday night some big storms were forecast and I left the camera on a tripod by the porch door. 8:30 PM the sky opens up with rapid fire lightning. I did a few long exposures, dialing the shutter back from 30 F22, to 15, 8, 4, 2, until I was finally happy with 1 sec F4. Then it was a matter of timing. After awhile I got lazy and set the intervalometer for 99 frames and called it a day. When I went through the frames on my camera, I realized I could make a cheap timelapse out of it, so I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYUIOJP28Y0
With the benefit of hindsight, I could have used more frames and shot outside. It turns out the storm was 50 miles away when I checked the radar afterwards.
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