>Isn't it also possible that the photos were taken at slightly different times and the path of the lightning bolt shifted...
In the time it takes for the light from a lightning strike to fade, the bolt basically doesn't shift at all.
There's a guy called Tom A. Warner who shoots 7207 fps video of lightning; if you watch the first video on his page[1] you'll see that once the bolt reaches the ground, it's path doesn't change.