A stack of lightning strikes at Monument Valley during a rare monsoon storm.
A stack of lightning strikes at Monument Valley during a rare monsoon storm.
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DaveLoucks
January 15, 2017
I love the wide crop, colors and intensity of the electrical storm. The shack is a much needed object for a human element. Reminder of how difficult life was here for humans. Nice blues.
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Behind The Lens
Location
Just outside Monument Valley, ArizonaTime
It was dusk as the sun had just set around 6ish as it was in June.Lighting
It is one of the nature's most beautiful, but also deadly forces.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon T2i and a Sigma 20mm f2.8 lens sitting on a tripod with a remote shutter trigger/intervalometer set at 7 seconds for 5 second exposures. F-stop to F8 for sharpness.Inspiration
I am know for my lightning storm shots and footage in the stock footage arena. I have literally 10 of thousands of lightning shots from the Southwest USA.Editing
This particular image is a stack of maybe 5 or 6 images. I do most of the post processing in Camera Raw, then in Photoshop. In camera raw I usually look for blotches that can occur on the lens from who knows what during storms. Also in some case some minor adjustments on the color temperature (white balance) and then in Photoshop I stack the shots using lighten at a filter.In my camera bag
I always carry at least two DSLR's along with a 4K video camera. Many batteries, remote shutter releases, lots of lens clothes and of course a variety of lenses from ultrawide to ultrazoon.Feedback
Don't be stupid and think you are invincible. You are not. Lightning deserves all the respect and preferably carbon fiber tripods as opposed to metal ones that can act like a lightning rod. Even if a storm looks reasonably far away (this one was about 15 miles or so) it can still strike on you without rain or anything as lightning usually precedes the storm itself. I always make sure I have a fast and clear path to my vehicle in these events so as if I do need to move, I can quickly. Storms are unpredictable. Stay safe.