CHICAGO — Chicago photographer Nick Ulivieri caught a lightning bug in 2009 and he was immediately hooked.
The University Village resident and professional photographer has been capturing some of Chicago's most dramatic lightning photos for the past eight years, soon after he snapped a lightning bolt picture about two weeks after getting his first camera on a trip to Italy.
He said shooting photos in Chicago, especially during stormy spring and summer months, is "surreal."
"If you like mother nature's mood swings, then Chicago is the place to be," Ulivieri said. "I couldn't imagine living/photographing in an area with a stable climate."
Ulivieri says he loves that "we get so many different weather systems throughout the year — mainly because it makes for more interesting photos."
Mid-spring is particularly active, he said.
"As residual cold air masses linger, and warmer summer air masses invade the area, their interaction can lead to some really strong, photogenic storms," Ulivieri said.
Here's the lightning tutorial @DrShepherd2013 and I discussed on @WXGeeksTWC > https://t.co/etC8B0bdfJ pic.twitter.com/6aKkZKOS8B
— Nick Ulivieri (@ChiPhotoGuy) March 19, 2017
Ulivieri has given occasional lectures how to photograph lightning, and he has a link to a tutorial here. On shutter speeds, he writes that he generally shoots 8 to 15 second long exposures, but sometimes he up to 20 to 30 second exposures.
"Manually set your focus to infinity. This is probably the most important part of capturing bolts because it will allow your shutter to release instantly every time without having to re-focus," he advises.
Ulivieri noted that every Monday night, 360 Chicago in the Hancock Center allows photographers to use tripods atop the observatory for #360TripodMondays.
"This is a great opportunity for long-exposure photographs at night," he said.
"It's particularly awesome if it happens to storm in Chicago on a Monday. Though if storms happen other days during the week, 360 Chicago has been pretty cool about opening up the floor to tripods so long as it doesn't conflict with private events or big crowd," he said.
