I knew a storm was a brewing...

goofry

I could hear the thunder getting closer and the wind beginning to pick up. I got my little one to bed safe and sound and to sleep before the storm really got intense.

So to start with, here's a shot where the lighning was just cloud to cloud, or at least just behind me. Did I mention this storm rolled in around 10:30 PM. This entire scene is lite by a single bolt.


And so starts the light show.


Not much in the way here of lightning, but the wind is evident in the blur of the trees.


Unfortunately, the wind really started kicking up and so I had to actually shut the window as everything in the house was getting wet (including the camera more importantly).


I was happy to catch this one as it is a double strike.


So if the last image was cool with a double strike, I got even more lucky and caught this triple strike with all kinds of little fingers running every which way.


And another


Another nice strike


And the final shot to share.


So now for the disclaimer,
don't try any of this at home, or be cautious when around nature, or don't hold up golf clubs in a lightning storm...
You get the idea, I am not promoting shooting lightining, but I think it's cool when you get the shots.

I also took probably 90 or so shots to catch these images. I wish I had a better backdrop for shooting lightning, but I deal with what I have.

Thanks for looking as always

Skippy

goofry wrote:

I could hear the thunder getting closer and the wind beginning to pick up. I got my little one to bed safe and sound and to sleep before the storm really got intense.

So to start with, here's a shot where the lighning was just cloud to cloud, or at least just behind me. Did I mention this storm rolled in around 10:30 PM. This entire scene is lite by a single bolt.

And so starts the light show.

So now for the disclaimer,
don't try any of this at home, or be cautious when around nature, or don't hold up golf clubs in a lightning storm...
You get the idea, I am not promoting shooting lightining, but I think it's cool when you get the shots.

I also took probably 90 or so shots to catch these images. I wish I had a better backdrop for shooting lightning, but I deal with what I have.

Thanks for looking as always

Lightning is an awesome sight to see, especially if your are not too close.
The most spectacular I have ever seen were in USA around Oklahoma,
and up around the Grand Canyon (Flagstaff area)

You've done a great job capturing these Goofry.
Thanks for sharing, and thank you for posting your warning at the end.

... Skippy
.

goofry

Skippy wrote:

Lightning is an awesome sight to see, especially if your are not too close.
The most spectacular I have ever seen were in USA around Oklahoma,
and up around the Grand Canyon (Flagstaff area)

You've done a great job capturing these Goofry.
Thanks for sharing, and thank you for posting your warning at the end.

... Skippy
.

Thanks for the compliment, Skippy. I wish I had a better area to capture Lightning. I've seen some of those out west and the landscape really sets them apart!

KED

It's thunderstorm season here in the Northeast, and I am dying to get some lightning shots -- my house got hit last summer, so that's the least I can hope for! How did you set up for these (amazing) shots? Did you just know that the storm was coming from one direction? When we get it here, it can be everywhere at once so I don't know how to be ready.

goofry

KED wrote:

It's thunderstorm season here in the Northeast, and I am dying to get some lightning shots -- my house got hit last summer, so that's the least I can hope for! How did you set up for these (amazing) shots? Did you just know that the storm was coming from one direction? When we get it here, it can be everywhere at once so I don't know how to be ready.

I usually just setup in my bonus room which has windows to the front and back of the house. I mostly shoot from the front as the back has trees that are a lot closer and a lot less sky.

Normally the storms roll in from the west and proceed past this window. I have to deal with street lights, neighbor's lights and some landscape lighting of my own. I have learned to sit back from the window a couple of feet and use a piece of foam core to block some of the light. I also turn the lights off in the room.

I only take the time for these if the storms have a lot of lightning. I guess I went through about 90 images to get these few.

Most of them were on manual at 5 seconds and anywhere from F8 to F22. I litteraly just keep pressing the release once I have the scene framed. I also keep a flashlight with me so that I can manually set focus to infinity. I can't tell you how many times I missed a great shot just checking and changing settings. I would be about ready to press the release and Wham, there went a bolt right before I pressed it.

One of these days, I am going to find a higher spot with a better landscape and try this from inside my car.

Thanks for the comments, and I hope you have good luck with capturing a few bolts of lightning. Hopefully none too close though since you've already been through that.

SaloSV

Shooting lightening = fun.

Riding through a storm like that on a motorcycle = NOT FUN!

This all reminds me of when I got caught a couple of weeks ago. I was on my way to shoot a wedding the next day!

Heck, got caught in another one the following Sunday that was even MORE intense! Bolts just like those were cracking at me right off the freeway!

goofry

SaloSV wrote:

Shooting lightening = fun.

Riding through a storm like that on a motorcycle = NOT FUN!

This all reminds me of when I got caught a couple of weeks ago. I was on my way to shoot a wedding the next day!

Heck, got caught in another one the following Sunday that was even MORE intense! Bolts just like those were cracking at me right off the freeway!

It would not be fun to get caught in that situation. The only thing I can think of that would be worse would be to get caught in a boat during a storm like that.

Glad you made to ride another day.