I don't know...as a mediocre photographer - not noticing the technical details too much - I'd much rather see dark cloud detail than expect color in the lightning bolt itself. I think it's a great capture. Where I'm from, I usually just get a ~straight ground to cloud shot. Love how this one is stringing across the entire sky.
This is amazing. The simplicity of the road combined with the sheer force of the lightning make this a wonderful image. Only thing missing is the inspirational message written across the bottom (I say that in a good way - not to imply this is in any way cheesy). Lucky? I think forethought, planning and experience probably had a hand in this. I strive for such "luck".
Hey Scott, this is bloody awesome! I was out the same night North of the city and it was a show and a half! My cloud structure was entirely different though and most lightning appeared as diffused 'sheet' lightning. I'm sending you a PM to compare notes on settings. Hope you're well, talk soon...
-Cam
Thank you all very much!. I really appreciate the feedback!
It was pretty dark out but behind me in the horizon was some light from clear skies and a full(ish) moon which gave me enough light to see what I was doing. I was actually more terrified of a tornado in the dark. It was kind of calm and the storms had been reeking havoc throughout the province all evening. Just as it came to my neck of the woods it started to weaken. The strikes were decreasing in frequency. Strikes like the photo above were every couple of mins min but this was the closest and most dramatic strike I saw. I capture another strike just moments earlier with a slightly different comp. I was trying to lead in more with the road. Though I really like the photo and the cloud structure I decided to try for one more when I saw the clouds where nicely arched above the highway. Sure, I had a sense the storm was due to produce a big strike, you can somewhat time it actually, and that it was going (hopefully) happen in front of me but you still have to take a chance on camera settings. VERY easy to say after the fact shoulda woulda coulda but the reality is, it is a very dynamic situation and no one setting fits all. You gotta use your know-how and make a judgement call on the fly. F8 or ISO200 would have saved the blown channels but thankfully not all channels are lost and so recoverable. I am glad as I could have easily set to F8 and gotten a much weaker strike that rendered the rest of the scene too dark, even to recover in post.
You'll get it next time!
I really appreciate the feedback!