I was lucky with my first roll of film of lightning, I took four shots that I have yet to duplicate, Check out my gallery for all the photos.
Fortunately, I never have been struck even though I tempt fate standing on open ground with a five foot metal tripod.
Contrary to popular speculation, lightning is extremely simple to capture on camera. You do not need a fast finger, all you need is a tripod and a camera that has a "bulb" setting or can be adjusted to keep shutter open for at least 10 seconds.
I like to leave the shutter open for about 30 seconds and adjust the aperture down if there is a lot of ambient light. I take a few test shots and point the camera towards wherever I think there will be lightning, release the shutter and then wait for lightning to strike.
