Sporadic
This was a very powerful and fast storm that taught me one thing... when using an ultra wide lens, objects are closer than they appear....
Read more
This was a very powerful and fast storm that taught me one thing... when using an ultra wide lens, objects are closer than they appear.
Read less
Read less
Jan, 2017Views
1183
Likes
Awards
Top Shot Award 22
Peer Choice Award
Contest Finalist in Powerful Lightning Photo Contest
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
All Star
Virtuoso
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Categories
pam9092
August 23, 2017
Is that natural??? It is awesome! I LOVE LOVE to catch clouds and lightening. Great photo
Platinum
Vadervideo
August 31, 2017
It is a stack of about 6 photos. It was a very vigorous and active storm. Very rare to have such opportunities without getting in harm's way. :)
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
Tucson, AZ at McGraws Cantina on Houghton Road.Time
This was at approximately 1:30 am when a strom started building over the Rincon mountains. It was also the first test with my new Sigma wide (24mm) lens.Lighting
Of course lightning is always majestic in looks, but also depicts mother nature's fury. The key is of course to stay safe and at a distance as well. This was actually a fairly dangerous event as when looking through such a lens, objects are actually closer than they appear. Lightning is very deceiving as the strikes usually are extremely long (tall), but look very close. Fortunately due to the specific lens used, these strikes were still quite a few miles away, but close enough to be dangerous. Having shot so many storms in Arizona, I have seen lightning bolts travel as far as 20 miles across the city before touching down. Hence, if this storm had generated such fierceness, I would have been a fried chicken for sure.Equipment
Canon T2i, Sigma 24mm lens, solid Sony tripod.Inspiration
I am always chasing storms during monsoon season in Arizona. There is something absolutely beautiful about nature when it releases its fury via lightning. The coolest thing is there are never ever two similar events, even if they are in the same area. This particular image was a result of chasing lots of what looked like exciting moments, but weren't until the wee hours of the morning.Editing
This is a stacked shot of a few strikes. However, not many as this was a very excited storm strike-wise. The intent was to shoot a time lapse. Within 45 minutes, there were over 100 shots of this caliber. If I would have stacked them all, the image would have been almost pure white (yes, I tried just for kicks). Images were shot in RAW. Very little post was necessary whatsoever on images themselves.In my camera bag
I usually carry at least two cameras (one for backup), lenses from wide to extreme zooms, intervalometers, flashlights (need those to spot snakes in the desert), lens cleaner cloths, extra batteries (always) and at least a bottle of water (being in the desert, it just a necessity).Feedback
SImple rule of thumb, first off, make sure you are in a safe area. Settings are always at F8, lens set to infinity, and usually I do 5 second exposures depending on the lighting situation. For example if you have city light noise, I go no more than 5 seconds, in the deep dark zones, I may go as long as 30 seconds. I pay attention to the frequency of the strike interval time. Some storms strike every few minutes, some every few seconds depending on intensity of the storm. I had one, where I shot at 1 second intervals and it still yielded multiple strikes and flashes even on such a short exposure. But that is extremely rare. Learn to judge storms by observation. Use tools such as radar on your smart phone. Learn how to predict storms based on all such information so that you can be at the right place at the right time.
