Making Lighting flashes (with a DSLR)

Yeah, 18K is way too much for sure.
It is a fairly large living room, so a 2K may or may not be able to cover the entire area. Its the smallest light I'd choose, but then again, I may not need a bigger one.

Would I want to use a hard light (Open face?) or a soft light for lightning?
 
I originally said the 18K because I thought that the lightning effect was only available on an 18K or bigger. And yes, that's way too muc light. But, now that I think of it, I may need something that big. Why? Well, I just remembered that I have a shot that is an interior shot (lightning shines through window) and one from the interior of the house that looks out the window to see the storm. So, to light up the entire street and possibly a house accross the road (if its in the shot) I'd probably need that 18K

Sorry for continuous posting. I'm on my phone and editing the post to add more of what I want to say is annoying and hard. Easier to make a new post.
 
Those things are just called shutters. I'd just use a 2k open face or fresnel lamp, then just take two flags and turn it on and off with that. Since lightning is a pretty small point of light (just long and thin) the light coming from it will be pretty hard. Although if its indirect it could be a lot softer with the light bouncing off of another house or something. You can justify it however you like...
 
I just use an old window shutter I picked up at Habitat for Humanity for like a dollar. Then I hang it in front with a c-stand and close the barn doors really narrow, turned vertically. Maybe rigging two would make it even better.
 
As others have mentioned (but no one has linked), this is what you need in order to do a realistic lighting with a fast attack and decay but not so fast as to cause rolling shutter problems:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/167637-REG/Mole_Richardson_514_Shutter_for_Senior_HMI.html

yes, it's 3k to buy but you can rent them for ~$75.

My advice, get two. Put them on a couple of 1,200 HMI or greater lights. Use one for the foreground and spot one in on the background.

PS, you can also buy something like these in Home Depot in the ventilation section and kludge something together DIY style, but it won't be as strong or big or solid as the Mole unit.
 
For a fairly cheap solution, but quite authentic, is to rent an arc welder. Drag the stick along a piece of metal. Control the amount of light by placing ND gel in front of it.

Pros

Realistic lightning with the fast rise/decay of light. Random flicker

Cons

Noisy
Makes smoke

[edit] The light can also be controlled by the current setting. Depending upon the welder, it can be equivalent in brightness to a 2-8k tungsten. I don't know what the color temperature is.
 
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