A Monsoonal Evening

davidryan

Hello all--

I went out to my in-law's ranch-- far from Denver-- to photograph the meteor shower on Saturday night/Sunday morning. However, a monsoonal flow turned on and the front range of Colorado got a good set of storms. I thought I'd share with you what I got.

The first photo is of the beginning of the storms-- roughly 60 miles away. It was a 30sec exposure, F2.8. In those 30 seconds, quite a bit-- well everything-- seemed to move somewhat-- including the stars. The lightning was amazing! Some of the light on the horizon is light pollution from Colorado Springs-- about a 500K people city 60 miles due south of Denver.



This last photo is of the same storm but just about overhead. My family decided it was time to go inside-- that means as a photographer, it was time to go outside and shoot it. I went for cover before my safety really became an issue. I'm not sure of the science behind it, but the lightning from the monsoonal flow seems so much more powerful, frequent and finger-like in appearance. The light in the lower right-hand corner is the light pollution from Denver, made pale in comparison to the intense blue lightning. This shot was taken with F8.0 (the lightning was washing everything out on a wider setting) on bulb setting. I would click the remote release and unclick it once a strike fired off. The method seemed to work pretty well. I'd like comments and critiques as I'm still testing the night photography water.



Thanks!

awmphoto

I love the first picture, the scene it paints almost seems surreal. Great Job!

schmoo

Ryan - wow great captures! I think viewing these images in bigger sizes would be even more impressive. I really like the light pollution in fact, giving a surreal sense of contrast to the drama of the bolts. The stars are an extra nice touch. I've actually never heard of a monsoonal flow in the states... got to look that one up.

davidryan

awmphoto wrote:

I love the first picture, the scene it paints almost seems surreal. Great Job!

Thanks! I took multiple photos in succession, too-- so it actually makes the star trails look like they're coming out of the storm itself-- however, the lightning is blown out-- so I'm still working on a technique to make the star trails appear without losing the lightning effect.

davidryan

schmooo wrote:

Ryan - wow great captures! I think viewing these images in bigger sizes would be even more impressive. I really like the light pollution in fact, giving a surreal sense of contrast to the drama of the bolts. The stars are an extra nice touch. I've actually never heard of a monsoonal flow in the states... got to look that one up.

Hiya! Thanks for the comments. I was pleasantly surprised by the light pollution, too-- who would have thought it would actually work in my favor this time around!

As for the monsoon....check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon#North_American_Monsoon

I never knew such a thing existed when I lived in the Northeast (grew up in Hershey, PA). But when I moved here was when we got into the thick of it last year and it rained all summer long. I'm told it was an extreme case but still-- that was a lot of rain and waaaaay too much lightning.

I will try to post a composite I mentioned in a previous reply to this post regarding actually getting star trails to form in the sky with the storm still present. It looks really spooky!

Albert Dickson

Great Images.
I really enjoyed these. #1 is very cool.

hawkeye978

I really enjoyed these also. Number 1 does have a very surreal quality what with the stars on top and the storm underneath.

schmoo

davidryan wrote:

Hiya! Thanks for the comments. I was pleasantly surprised by the light pollution, too-- who would have thought it would actually work in my favor this time around!

As for the monsoon....check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon#North_American_Monsoon

I never knew such a thing existed when I lived in the Northeast (grew up in Hershey, PA). But when I moved here was when we got into the thick of it last year and it rained all summer long. I'm told it was an extreme case but still-- that was a lot of rain and waaaaay too much lightning.

I will try to post a composite I mentioned in a previous reply to this post regarding actually getting star trails to form in the sky with the storm still present. It looks really spooky!

Thanks for the link, Ryan. That's really impressive that I've lived here all my life and never knew it could happen in the states. Just proves that I need to travel more.

Anyway if you get the time I'd love to see the star trails you mentioned!

Awais Yaqub

Wonderful loved 1st one a lot will make beautiful huge print

BBiggs

They are both awesome photos! The first one is amazing because you have a clear sky with stars being devoured by the storm! That is simply something I have naver seen done so well like this. Excellent job!

kdog

Beautiful shots.

The only missing missing in that first one is a shooting star.

theinlawjosie

WOW! These are amazing. I like the first one a lot too but both of them are excellent. Wonderful job.