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Lightning at Watson Lake



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Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona

Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona
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Awards

Top Shot Award 22
Contest Finalist in Full Focus Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Day Photo Contest 2015
Exposure and more
Contest Finalist in Covers Photo Contest Vol 21
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 11 Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Nature In HDR Photo Contest
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Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
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Top Choice
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Magnificent Capture
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Love it
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Travel Destinations Photo ContestTop 10 rank
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Creative Composition Photo Contest Vol 2Top 10 rank
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Creative Composition Photo Contest Vol 2Top 10 rank week 1
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High Speed Photography Photo ContestTop 10 rank
High Speed Photography Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
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Covers Photo Contest Vol 23Top 10 rank
From The Top Photo ContestTop 10 rank
It Is A Wild World Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 23Top 10 rank week 5
It Is A Wild World Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
From The Top Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
The Beauty Of Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Full Focus Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Amateurs Vol 6 Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Your Summer Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 23Top 20 rank month 1
It Is A Wild World Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Your Summer Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
The Beauty Of Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Full Focus Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
From The Top Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Amateurs Vol 6 Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Covers Photo Contest Vol 23Top 10 rank week 3
Covers Photo Contest Vol 23Top 20 rank week 2
Get Out Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Rock Formations Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Summer 2015 Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Summer 2015 Photo ContestTop 20 rank
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Photographer Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 11Top 10 rank
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Monthly Pro Vol 13 Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 22Top 10 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 22Top 10 rank week 2
Rock Formations Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Celebrating Nature Day Photo Contest 2015Top 10 rank
Celebrating Nature Day Photo Contest 2015Top 10 rank week 1
Covers Photo Contest Vol 22Top 10 rank week 1
Pushing Limits Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 21Top 10 rank
Covers Photo Contest Vol 21Top 10 rank week 1
Monthly Pro Vol 11 Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Monthly Pro Vol 11 Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Earth Day 2015 Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Best Shot Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Jaw Dropping Landscapes Photo Contest With KelbyOneTop 10 rank
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Nature In HDR Photo ContestTop 10 rank
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21 Comments | Report
terryc Platinum
 
terryc March 11, 2015
Stunning!
Nikonover
 
Nikonover March 22, 2015
Beautiful shot,,great DOF,great composition and detail.
GayleLucci Platinum
 
GayleLucci May 18, 2015
Beautiful shot of the Dells!!!!! Must be monsoon season in Prescott.
Karine
 
Karine May 23, 2015
Fantastic view!
KimAndelkovicPhotography Premium
 
Congrats on this awesome pic just love it :-)
ppuru
 
ppuru June 29, 2015
very busy weather :)
MILTONZEE
 
MILTONZEE July 02, 2015
excellent
nina050
 
nina050 July 03, 2015
THIS is photography! Congrats!
slallen
 
slallen July 05, 2015
Congratulations on this stunning photo and well deserved win!
adifloyde
 
adifloyde July 05, 2015
bloody stunning. I love it.
martinclement
 
martinclement July 05, 2015
good compositing with the lighting. congrats!
greglinck
 
greglinck July 05, 2015
Excellent job congratulations.
JulianneBradford
 
JulianneBradford July 06, 2015
Fabulous! Congrats!
tazdog
 
tazdog July 06, 2015
Join the conversation. AdFantastic shot....
the_dash007
 
the_dash007 July 07, 2015
Simply superb
michaelwilson
 
michaelwilson July 07, 2015
Awesome - Thank you all for the nice comments!
phirunsam
 
phirunsam July 10, 2015
This is amateur?!?! Wow!
jessicakirsh
 
jessicakirsh October 05, 2015
AMAZING! I still need to get up there to see Watson Lake! I live in Cave Creek :)
nandicmb
 
nandicmb October 14, 2015
Congratulations on all your Awards!
cferrell7100
 
cferrell7100 October 15, 2015
Congrats, I finally made it to the lake and no one can capture the beauty if it like you do. Great work!
JohnRW
 
JohnRW October 25, 2015
Great Capture Michael, You have a Fantastic Body of work Congrats..Keep'm Coming ..
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona. This location is very unique with the amazing granite rock outcroppings surrounding the lake.

Time

Arizona has a wonderful monsoon season beginning in July. The monsoons bring daily thunderstorms into the area. I made this photograph in the late afternoon. The rock formation I am on is only accessible by foot when the water level is low.

Lighting

The lighting was really awesome at this time. The sunlight was always changing with the quickly moving clouds illuminated different rock outcroppings in really amazing ways.

Equipment

For this image I was using a Nikon D7000 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens. I was on a tripod to lock in the composition I wanted, and then just kept shooting trying to get a lighting bolt in the image.

Inspiration

I did not know how long the low water level would make this location accessible. Because of the beautiful landscape I kept coming back to this spot during the storms until I captured the image I visualized in my mind.

Editing

For processing I started with an HDR image. I then processed a couple of the bracketed images separately. The trees were kind of blurry due to the wind, and I was not happy with how some of illuminated rocks looked in the HDR image. So, I used the individual photos to mask back in on top of the HDR image to correct these issues.

In my camera bag

I always carry my large tripod, which I really love. I typically shoot most landscape images on the tripod. Besides my camera body I have a wide angle lens and a telephoto zoom to cover a 35mm equivalent range of 10mm to 300mm.

Feedback

Early morning and late evening hours always provide the best light for landscape images. I often stumble across a composition that I really like, and then have to decide if it would look better in the morning or afternoon. The type of image you can get from a particular landscape really changes with the time of day, the season, and the varying clouds in the sky. You may want areas of the landscape to be in shadow, or some great color in the sky. To get a landscape image you are really happy with often requires several visits to the same location when all the elements of the image come together and are like what you are visualizing.

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