lotsa50 Loc: Melbourne Australia

This was taken from my back door. I had a small view area so it was pretty much all lightning. I have no idea how to get a sharper shot? Any suggestions for the next storm we get? :)
I have a canon 7d with a 18-200 lens

Falcon Loc: Abilene, Texas

Interesting composition. Without a foreground or background in the shot, a lightening strike is just a bright, jagged line in a dark frame.
How did you expose this shot? It appears that you might have captured two lightening strikes with one long exposure and moved the camera somewhat during one of them. The little squiggly strike at the center below the horizontal strike seems to indicate that.
As for focus, I have heard it said that you should focus on infinity. That is hard to do in the dark, so I have heard that you should run the focus out as far as possible and then back it off slightly because most lenses will "focus past infinity." From a physics point of view I do not see how it would be possible to focus "past" infinity. In addition, the experts have never defined "slightly" when "backing off" from infinity. What I have done is find a location from which to ambush a storm, focus on some very distant visible object during daylight and then mark the lens so I can reset that at night during a storm.

lotsa50 Loc: Melbourne Australia

Hi Falcon,
Yes, it was a little hard as I was standing at the back door and didnt have a lot of clear area.
The photo was taken on a tripod with a continuous 30 second shot. Maybe I had it set for too long?
I was to infinity and back a touch. As you said its pretty hard defining infinity. I will try it next time the way you said and see how that works.
Its just a shame as it was a beauty of a storm and I was in the wrong place lol
Thanks for the input :)

deanna_hg Loc: So. Alabama

very nice. capturing a lightning storm would be on my bucket list.

lotsa50 Loc: Melbourne Australia

thanks Deanna, Its on my bucket list too.. If I can get it right! lol :)

photo guy Loc: Chippewa Falls, WI

I see multiple bolts of lightning in this photo. I like it.

lotsa50 Loc: Melbourne Australia

Yes it was a crazy storm.. The forks were everywhere! :)

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

The lightning is out of focus..

lotsa50 Loc: Melbourne Australia

Yes I know, Thats what I am trying to fix :) I just havent worked out how yet?

CamObs Loc: South America (Texas)

Focusing past infinity is usually designed into a lens for thermal expansion/contraction. It's not REALLY going past infinity, just past the lens mark. I have a 600 mm mirror cat that has an ∞ mark a full 1/4 inch long. It is based on the film plane location at the temperature.

Falcon Loc: Abilene, Texas

CamObs--
Excellent point--and the lightbulb just went off in my mind (boy, is it dusty in here!). The "focus past infinity" comment REALLY means "focus past the infinity mark on the lens."