Congratulations to Scott Kroeker for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 7 votes - View Previous Winners
Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far and several records were broken. Luckily for me it was a great day for storm clouds. There was a lot of lightning out that night and I took advantage of it. When I got to this tree it was still raining. I waited for an opening in the sky reach me and then I started shooting. The storm was moving from my left to right and away. It moved out slowly and gave me a show for some time. You can't tell but right above me was an opening in the sky. I was a safe distance from the lightning. It really was the "perfect storm". This was taken just around sunset.
dgdg wrote:
Great capture!
What are your basic measures to keep from being directly above one of those strikes?
David
Yes, standing in an open field near the only tree seems a bit hazardous! Very nice shot though.
From the exif, it would seem you use an ND filter for the long exposure? How do you know when to start a shot? Just at random and hope to capture the lightning?
Great shot Scott!
I like the purple ozone look about it!
Last summer after a pretty severe lightning storm I was up in the mountains and found one tree, just the one burning up in full flames.... Guess he was the chosen one..
Terrific image Scott. You processed it very nicely. The tree is a little dark but I like as a silhouette.
Your behind the scene shot looks a bit grainy.
Fred
Very cool shot here. That is some sweet lightning. While the tree is cool, did you get any shots without the tree? That lightning with those clouds are cool just by themselves.
Thank you all very much for your comments/feedback/questions.
alatoo60 wrote:
That's a very beautiful lightning. But wait a minute, just recently there was ice and snow, and now you already have thunderstorms?
Sasha.
Thank you Sasha. You're right. 2 weeks ago you could still find snow here an there and on the lakes. Now, it is all gone. You know you live in Manitoba when you have the furnace and air-conditioner on in the same day!
NCAndy wrote:
Yes, standing in an open field near the only tree seems a bit hazardous! Very nice shot though.
From the exif, it would seem you use an ND filter for the long exposure? How do you know when to start a shot? Just at random and hope to capture the lightning?
Thank you Andy! I've updated my OP with more details behind the photo. I was in a safe spot and wouldn't never risk my life for a photo. I used GND to help balance the sky and ground exposure. Though there was an opening above me it was very dark. Even at ISO200 and f5.6 I could still get 6 second exposures. The lightning was so frequent almost every time I clicked the shutter button I was capturing a strike.
caralan9 wrote:
Great photo - but not worth dying for
Thank you. I was actually safe. I updated my OP. :P
Chuck Eklund wrote:
Great lightning shot. I am also curious if you used a triggering device.
Chuck
Thank you Chuck. I do not have a triggering device. Fast shutters speeds would not have been an option unless I cranked up the ISO to unusable settings so I relied on long exposures.
JimFox wrote:
Hey Scott,
Very cool shot here. That is some sweet lightning. While the tree is cool, did you get any shots without the tree? That lightning with those clouds are cool just by themselves.
Jim
Thanks Jim. I did not. My focus was getting a stirke shot with this tree. The landscape itself wasn't anything special. I tried getting a storm photo of this tree last year and didn't get what I wanted.
