GoPro : Ultimate Guide to Lightning Photography on GoPro Ultimate Guide to Lightning Photography on GoPro

In The Wild

Aug 3, 2021

If you're looking to learn how to photograph lightning with GoPro, you've come to the right place! We've asked GoPro Family member and experienced storm watcher Kyle Wicks to share his top tips and tricks for lightning photography. Since GoPro is waterproof out of the box, Kyle says it's naturally one of the best cameras for the job (because, majority of the time, lightning = rain). We'll let him take it from here ...

Hello ya'll! My name is Kyle Wicks. I'm from a small town called Chatham, situated in Ontario, Canada. Being surrounded by the countless forests, lakes and trails that are in Southern Ontario, I have always had an immense passion for exploring and being active in the great outdoors.

Ever since picking up my first GoPro back in 2016, the HERO4 Silver, I have been hooked on capturing the beauty and power of Mother Nature through the ever-changing lens of GoPro.

Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks on capturing one of nature's finest shows-a summer lightning storm!

1. Learn To Read Weather Patterns. First and foremost, to chase down and even have the opportunity to capture a storm, you should start watching your local weather forecast and learn to read and navigate what's on the weather radar system. This will allow you to watch the storm cells forming and coming in, which will you determine the right location and timing.

Getting ahead of the system will put you in front of the storm to beat the heavy rainfall that usually comes with lightning; this helps a lot with nailing some clean images before the downpour and harsher conditions hit.

I like to get ahead of the storm as much as I can, allowing myself time to set up my GoPro equipment and scout out photo compositions and ideas long before the storm gets overhead. It doesn't always play out like that, as cells can pop up out of nowhere, but be alert for the best results.

For the shot above, I was able to do just that. I watched the radar system as the day played out and put myself in position along this field in front of the storm cell to give myself a bit of time to dial in my GoPro and nail a few shots of the lightning before getting caught in the downpour.

Settings:

Camera: HERO9 Black

Mode: Night Photo

Shutter: 15 sec

White Balance: 5500K

ISO Min + Max: 100

Color: GoPro

Sharpness: Low

Output: RAW

PRO TIP: Download The Weather Network app which is available globally to watch your latest forecast and tune into the radar section of the app to keep up to date live as the storm systems roll in.

2. Grab The Right Gear. With this particular storm pictured above, it came in at the late hours of the night so I was shooting in pitch darkness. With that being said, anything from the HERO4 model to HERO9 Black is capable of snagging this type of photo with the use of a long exposure image, called a 'Night Photo' on GoPro.

When shooting in Night Photo mode, every time you click the camera, your shutter stays open for an extended period of time (as opposed to quickly opening and closing for a regular photo taken in ample lighting). Because of this, you need your GoPro to be completely still during this process. That's where having a sturdy and reliable tripod or mount comes into play.

My go-to for this type of shot is setting up the Shorty tripod or bringing out the Jaws + Gooseneck combo to give me a lot of different choices when clamping to things out in the field. Both of these mounts keep the camera completely still.

For this image, I clamped my Jaws on a nearby fence pole, ensuring my GoPro was completely stable when taking my photos of the approaching storm.

Also, I always recommend setting your photo output to RAW. Shooting RAW (as opposed to JPEG) enables your GoPro to capture all the image data recorded in the sensor and ensures you are producing the highest quality photo. And when you're editing in post, you will be able to fluctuate your image more with all the data captured-great color correction is key to awesome lightning and landscape images!

Settings:

Camera: HERO4 Black

Mode: Night Photo

Shutter: 5 sec

White Balance: 5500K

ISO: 100

PRO TIP: Use The Remote to trigger your capture to eliminate any potential movement from pushing the shutter button. Alternatively, you can set a shutter timer to delay either 3 or 10 seconds after you click the record button

3. Perfect Long Exposure on GoPro. Now that you're a weather forecasting pro and have the proper gear, let's focus on settings. As I stated above, when shooting lightning storms at night with GoPro, you will want to be in Night Photo Mode-a.k.a. shooting long exposure shots. I always try to arrive early to test exposure times, and I have found 5-15 second exposures being the most efficient for storms and lightning strikes. But, don't be afraid to try longer given the conditions.

Once my settings are good, instead of clicking the shutter one after another in Night Photo, I will transfer the exact settings over to start to a Night Lapse Photo with the interval set to auto. This means my camera will continuously be shooting because you never know what's going to happen in the night sky during a storm.

I also like shooting in Night Lapse Photo because you get a variety of single shots, AND you have the opportunity to merge multiple images together for photo or video use while post-editing.

In the photo above, I was able to merge together two images from the same night lapse. One photo with the car trail and strike, and another that had lightning on the upper part of the shot. After capturing the images, I added both into Photoshop as layers after color correcting them. Then, I was able to grab out the lightning from each photo using masks and the brush tool to round out the final photo.

Settings:

Camera: HERO9 Black

Mode: Night Lapse Photo

Shutter: 15 sec

Interval: Auto

White Balance: 5500K

ISO Min + Max: 100

Color: GoPro

Sharpness: Low

Output: Raw

PRO TIP: When shooting lightning storms, I will always expose the image darker (setting the ISO min and max both to 100) so the photo doesn't get blown out when a strike happens. This creates a nice silhouette throughout your landscape.

4. Tap Into Unlimited Capture with Video. Shooting video is a great alternative to capture some stunning clips/images of lightning. This is possible with one of my favorite features on the newer HERO9 and HERO8 Black models-Night Lapse Video-and it's a unique way to document night shots with ease. Do so by turning on Night Lapse Mode and setting the format to 'video' instead of'photo,' and with a little fine tuning of the settings, the GoPro does all the processing for you to create a smooth lapse of the night sky.

Another bonus of shooting high-resolution video (4K or 5K) of day or nighttime storms is that you can record normal video and then pull high-quality frame grabs in the GoPro Quik app (pictured above). For the video clip above, I simply lined my GoPro up in the desired frame, put in my settings for the Night Lapse Video and, by uploading it to Quik afterwards, I was able to edit this lapse on the go and share it straight to social.

Settings:

Camera: HERO8 Black

Mode: Night Lapse Video

Resolution: 2.7K 4:3

Shutter: 20 sec

Interval: Auto

White Balance: Auto

ISO Min + Max: 100

Sharpness: Low

Color: GoPro

PRO TIP: If you're unsure about your Night Lapse video settings, go through the process of of setting up a Night Photo, and transfer those settings over to your Night Lapse Mode-the settings should be similar and will save you a lot of time.

Storms have been popping off. Stunning display of lightning over the town of Chatham, Ontario last night. ⛈ #ShareYourWeather@weathernetwork@StormhunterTWN#ONStorm@Onstormtracker#ONWX

: @GoPropic.twitter.com/bwKNKxtKzv

- Kyle Wicks (@K_Wicksy) July 7, 2021

Be sure to follow Kyle Wicks on Instagram as he ventures out on a cross-country trek, documenting his experience on GoPro, as he explores the wonders of Canada, eh!