Desert Lightning Storm

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

So I ran out of my house tonight around 12:00am, and drove up a small mountain near my house and set my camera up. Lightning was discharging all around. Here are 4 of the best shots I got of it.

I'll probably post more later tomorrow morning. But for now, tell me what you think.

gus · September 21, 2005

#3 is a ground strike

Beautiful mate...just beautiful.

A storm is about the only thing i will get up at that time of night also.

Gus

rahmonster · September 21, 2005

Humungus wrote:

#3 is a ground strike Beautiful mate...just beautiful.

A storm is about the only thing i will get up at that time of night also.

Gus

Just beautiful. There's something about lightning on a hot night that just does it for me.

The first and the 3rd are just stunning.

gus · September 21, 2005

And the best bit is RM that our storm season is just starting.

rahmonster · September 21, 2005

Humungus wrote:

And the best bit is RM that our storm season is just starting.

We have only had 1 little tease here but can't wait for summer.

ian408 · September 21, 2005

Very cool! I like three, where you see the ground strike.

Had a bit of a T-storm here in the Bay Area--very unusal for us. But as it was
2 in the afternoon, not much to shoot

Ian

micknewton · September 21, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

So I ran out of my house tonight around 12:00am, and drove up a small mountain near my house and set my camera up. Lightning was discharging all around. Here are 4 of the best shots I got of it.

I've always wanted to try capturing lightning, but we hardly ever get any here in north west Oregon.

Your shots are super! How did you shoot them? Are they long exposures, or..?

XO-Studios · September 21, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

So I ran out of my house tonight around 12:00am, and drove up a small mountain near my house and set my camera up. Lightning was discharging all around. Here are 4 of the best shots I got of it.

I'll probably post more later tomorrow morning. But for now, tell me what you think.

Great pictures, just make sure we do not have to read about them in the Darwin Awards

XO,

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

Humungus wrote:

#3 is a ground strike Beautiful mate...just beautiful.

A storm is about the only thing i will get up at that time of night also.

Gus

Hehe, I didn't even know it was 12:00am, I thought it was like around 10:00pm. Funny how that works. Only realized after I woke someone up and they were a bit upset at me.

This afternoon I'll get some more of the series posted!

Most of the photographers were taken via long exposure in bulb mode. Whenever lightning would strike I would take another long exposure photo. I would have gotten a few more hours of photographing going, except it started to pour. I ended up throwing my jacket over the camera and rushing it and the tripod into my car. The pain of it was that it was blowing towards me so the windows were down in my car and the rain was blowing in.

Higgmeister · September 21, 2005

Cool shots Tyler,
That looked like it was a real zinger of a storm. I didn't hear anything or see anything and I sleep with my bedroom deck door open. We didn't even get any rain. It's a bummer that I missed it but glad you captured these wonderful shots of it. I don't feel so left-out now.

Thanks for posting and looking forward to more,
Chris

ian408 · September 21, 2005

Whoa. I was just looking at this thread again and noticed that, if you look from far
away, #3 almost looks like a cartoon character--the hulk...that's cool.

ian

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

Higgmeister wrote:

Cool shots Tyler,
That looked like it was a real zinger of a storm. I didn't hear anything or see anything and I sleep with my bedroom deck door open. We didn't even get any rain. It's a bummer that I missed it but glad you captured these wonderful shots of it. I don't feel so left-out now.

Thanks for posting and looking forward to more,
Chris

Hehe, I'm surprised, a lot of people didn't see this storm. But it was very big, lit up the sky. I was on Rattlesnake Mountain when I took those photos.

ian408 wrote:

Whoa. I was just looking at this thread again and noticed that, if you look from far
away, #3 almost looks like a cartoon character--the hulk...that's cool.

ian

That's awesome! Look like the Nightwalker off Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke).

I'll have more pics shortly!

Higgmeister · September 21, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

Hehe, I'm surprised, a lot of people didn't see this storm. But it was very big, lit up the sky. I was on Rattlesnake Mountain when I took those photos.

That explains it. Rattlesnake is on the south side and I live on the north side.

Chris

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

For your delight, four more lightning shots. I'll have more later tonight, it takes time to clean the noise up out of the photos, since the exposures were quite long, I got hotpixels. I didn't use noise reduction on the camera because it takes so long, I'd have lost a lot of the shots I got.

prity goldfish · September 21, 2005

...those put my lightning picture to shame. now i need to get revenge....you not only woke me up at 1 in the morning to tell me you got lightning they're better than the one i took. this means war!

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

Them being better is all just a matter of opinion!

You should post the picture of yours.
They're going to have more storms this weekend supposedly, if you want to meet up we could take some sweet photos of lightning! But!!! Get a wired remote for your camera. I know it's a bit pricy, but trust me, it'll help out TREMENDOUSLY!

prity goldfish · September 21, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

Them being better is all just a matter of opinion!

You should post the picture of yours.
They're going to have more storms this weekend supposedly, if you want to meet up we could take some sweet photos of lightning! But!!! Get a wired remote for your camera. I know it's a bit pricy, but trust me, it'll help out TREMENDOUSLY!

....yea it sucks, but it's my first picture of lightning EVAR!!! so i like it!

DRT-Maverick · September 21, 2005

Not to mention that you got it by hand during the day. So with all that implied, that photo is actually pretty damned good. And you beat me with that. I fell instead of snapped. hehe.

prity goldfish · September 22, 2005

DRT-Maverick wrote:

Not to mention that you got it by hand during the day. So with all that implied, that photo is actually pretty damned good. And you beat me with that. I fell instead of snapped. hehe.

yea my shutter speed what 1/3 versus you used what??? 25-30 seconds? but the composistion and all that jazz isn't there really and then it's all blurred and crap... oh well i'll get better sooner or later! i have to just to show you up! har har

aero-nut · September 22, 2005

prity goldfish wrote:

...those put my lightning picture to shame. now i need to get revenge....you not only woke me up at 1 in the morning to tell me you got lightning they're better than the one i took. this means war!

hehehe...ditto. Very nice shots, Mav.

gregneil · September 22, 2005

caught this from my tent backpacking in Yosemite a few weeks ago. Lightning is cool.

DRT-Maverick · September 22, 2005

My new lens closes down to F40, so I want to get some nice dayshots. That'd be fun.

That's a great photo though, a nice one for a quick snapshot of the sky.

I'm actually in the process of re-editing all my lightning photos, doing changes in the saturation and color, making it more realistic looking. Also cropping out a lot of the deadspace.

Higgmeister · September 22, 2005

Thanks for the additional shots. I especially like #4, it just appeals to me.
It looks like you were facing east, but definitely not on top of Rattlesnake. I'm assuming you were on the backside, maybe by the water tank. I'm not recognizing the wooden fence, but then it's been awhile since I was back there.

Thanks again for the additional shots,
Chris

DRT-Maverick wrote:

iceman17 · September 22, 2005

Beautiful shots you have captured there.Lightning is one of my favorite subjects to capture,I shoot it from my deck or the safety of my garage.#3 is awsome

.Thanks for sharing these with us...Mike

Vince · September 22, 2005

Just Awesome.

DRT-Maverick wrote:

So I ran out of my house tonight around 12:00am, and drove up a small mountain near my house and set my camera up. Lightning was discharging all around. Here are 4 of the best shots I got of it.

I'll probably post more later tomorrow morning. But for now, tell me what you think.

I really like #1 and #4. I love the sky in the first one.

May I ask what your camera settings were? I assume you use a sturdy tripod?

Thanks for sharing. These shots are electric. :wow

DRT-Maverick · September 22, 2005

EXIF info should be attached, I don't know of a way to copy it all and paste it correctly on the forums. Uhm, let me try.

Figured it out.

EXIF
Date/time 9/21/2005 7:24:45 PM
Exposure time 13 s
F-number 8
Exposure program Manual
ISO speed ratings 200
Date/time original 9/21/2005 12:22:05 AM
Date/time digitized 9/21/2005 12:22:05 AM
Focal length 18 mm
Sensing method One-chip color area sensor
Scene type Photographed image
Custom Rendered Normal process
Exposure mode Manual exposure
Focal length in 35mm film 27 mm
Scene capture type Standard

There we go.

prity goldfish · September 22, 2005

i just realized something... if i hadn't given you my tripod you wouldn't have been able to get those shots. your welcome!:D

DRT-Maverick · September 22, 2005

Thank you thank you!

Btw, you should get on AIM, I wanna chat. :P

Oh I do have that mini tripod, so I would ahve gotten a lot of fence and you'd see the uh, sky light up, but no lightning. ;P Thanks for the tripod Kasey! You're a lifesaver!

KalahariBreakdown · June 26, 2012

Desert Lightning Shots
These are great shots! Here's my need.....My son and I were broke down in the Kalahari a few years ago and nearly died of thirst. Anyway we didn't. But one night we took pictures of the lightning storm off in the distance. They are only 700kb and we want to bloone of them up to a poster size or 2 ft by 2 ft. The picture would go in opur just remodeled bathroom where we have tiles that look like the lightning strikes. Would you be willing to sell me one of the pictures so I could have it blown uop. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm new to Dgrin. Regards, Bill

David_S85 · June 26, 2012

KalahariBreakdown wrote: »

These are great shots! Here's my need.....My son and I were broke down in the Kalahari a few years ago and nearly died of thirst. Anyway we didn't. But one night we took pictures of the lightning storm off in the distance. They are only 700kb and we want to bloone of them up to a poster size or 2 ft by 2 ft. The picture would go in opur just remodeled bathroom where we have tiles that look like the lightning strikes. Would you be willing to sell me one of the pictures so I could have it blown uop. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm new to Dgrin. Regards, Bill

Bill, you realize that this post from DRT-Maverick was from seven years ago, right?

DRT-Maverick · July 2, 2012

Hey it's kinda cool that it was bumped, I've been on a bit of a haitus lately, and just recently rediscovered RAW images, making me get back into the game!

Desert Lightning Storm

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