Mother Nature can really throw some heat — and light. For this week’s big challenge, we offer big examples of what she can do with her electric pitching arm.
TWIN CHANNELS — Big lightning strike to the south.BIGGER LIGHTNING — This lightning bolt and the expanding column of super-heated air and water all aglow. Don’t mess with Mother Nature when she’s in that mood.
I would not want to be anywhere near there when that second one struck. Not even as close as the cameraman in this picture. The flag give a lot of perspective as to the size of that thing. Amazing!
We were safety ensconced in the living room — it did make one heckuva thunderclap. That was truly the widest column of lightning/air/steam I’d ever seen. Have no idea what was hit, but we’re sure it’s been vaporized!
You know, I was thinking about this picture last night and I wanted to ask: How did you manage to get this picture? It is not as if you could just say, “Hey look! It’s a gigantic bolt of lightening! Hold on a minute, let me get my camera.” How did you capture this moment?
I have trained squirrels with, um, lightning reflexes!
No, really, the secret is digital movie capture. When a storm erupts, I just set the focus and exposure and let the Sony capture a couple minutes at a time, then freeze and capture the frame. There’s a lot of luck involved, pointing in the right direction, having the exposure right and hoping the storm doesn’t decide to pack up after you hit “record.” Plus some of the bolts are so fast, the camera can’t catch ’em. There are also lightning triggers available for photographers. Don’t have one, but the workaround seems to do OK.
I would not want to be anywhere near there when that second one struck. Not even as close as the cameraman in this picture. The flag give a lot of perspective as to the size of that thing. Amazing!
We were safety ensconced in the living room — it did make one heckuva thunderclap. That was truly the widest column of lightning/air/steam I’d ever seen. Have no idea what was hit, but we’re sure it’s been vaporized!
You know, I was thinking about this picture last night and I wanted to ask: How did you manage to get this picture? It is not as if you could just say, “Hey look! It’s a gigantic bolt of lightening! Hold on a minute, let me get my camera.” How did you capture this moment?
I have trained squirrels with, um, lightning reflexes!
No, really, the secret is digital movie capture. When a storm erupts, I just set the focus and exposure and let the Sony capture a couple minutes at a time, then freeze and capture the frame. There’s a lot of luck involved, pointing in the right direction, having the exposure right and hoping the storm doesn’t decide to pack up after you hit “record.” Plus some of the bolts are so fast, the camera can’t catch ’em. There are also lightning triggers available for photographers. Don’t have one, but the workaround seems to do OK.
WoW! Brave try. 😉
Fabulous captures!
Thank you! Not bad for little bitty digital cameras!
It certainly isn’t and you are a woman after my own heart as that is all I use as well.
🙂