Well, I tried recently to take photographs of lightening during a very active storm. I got lucky and got two shots, but they were at the end of the strike.

The only time I really got the whole strike, the photo was so over exposed that you could see nothing but a screen full of bright pink.

Can you help me out with settings for shooting this? I realise that a lot of luck is required too, but I am patient!

Yar taking pictures of lightning indeed requires some luck!
light travels faster than sound. so we tend to see lightning before hearing it.
and before seeing lightning, there are no clear indication of when it's coming..
Solution: just click away and try your luck?

Personally I've not tried this. But it sounds interesting and like how one would take pics of firework?
Try these:
ISO 50 if not ISO 100
Apperture: f/11 - f/18
mount on tripod and snap away!

Lemme know if it works! haha

Honestly I cannot see such a slow speed working. Given the brief period of time that the lightening is visible, I would have thought that something nearer to 400 would be better? Rapid exposure to boot, so as not to over expose (as I am learning as of tonight's storm) and a small (ish) aperture.

I will continue to experiment but tonight's storm was coming from the wrong direction to get out of the larger window.

1. Camera on tripod
2. ISO 100 or 200 (whichever is the lowest on your camera)
3. Shutter set on "Bulb"
4. Aperture F8
5. Focus set to infinity
6. Open shutter,wait for lightning strike,close shutter (remote or cable release helps)

Up to 10 Kilometers away   100/200 ISO
10 to 50         "          "      200/400 ISO

Regards, Ken

Thanks Ken, that makes sense. Unfortunately we are on a housing estate and as a consequence, I think that this would result in too much background noise from the street lights-unless a strike occurred almost immediately.

Perhaps I should just give up.

Wow I also got interested doing such shoot. I will definitely try this thru kens suggested tips.

I have yet to try out the settings suggested because I am not sure how to overcome the street noise. If I can do that then perhaps I can work this.