In the days before digital is would have been an expensive prospect to waste film hoping to catch a lightning strike. With digital I can simply discard the photos with no lightning and try again.
>I simply went with a very small apeture, low ISO,
>and 30 second exposure.
Exactly. Beautiful shot too :)
I get maybe one decent image in 30 shots. As you said, digital has made this possible. Otherwise, 30 shots would be the better part of a roll of film. $$$
The other part of luck is being where the storm is happening.