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Jun, 2020Views
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Awards
Action Award
Zenith Award
Curator's Selection
Spring 21 Award
Treasure Award
Winter Award 2020
Legendary Award
Summer 2020
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken near the town of Wiggins, Colorado shortly after this line of thunderstorms produced a localized outbreak of landspout tornadoes.Time
On May 20th, 2020 I was watching a line of storms, and this cell in particular, most of the evening as they were producing tornadoes. I was able to keep pace with the relatively slow storm motion and so I watched all the way through sunset which gave perfect contrast to the frequent lightning. At 8:07PM, my cell phone captures this cloud-to-ground bolt between the rain shaft and the shelf cloud.Lighting
The sunset helped to contrast the storm clouds I was facing. Lightning always comes out best in the evenings, when there's enough sunlight to see the cloud, but it's getting dark enough that the lightning is more contrasted against the background.Equipment
I captured this with my then LG Phoenix cell phone with no flash, I find I have the most success taking lightning photos with nothing more than a cell phone.Inspiration
Sunset is always an inspiring time of day, especially when there are thunderstorms on the horizon. Forecast models were showing a potentially strong line of thunderstorms forming in Northern Colorado this day, and the line verified. If storms form, I tend to watch them until they dissipate as they will always surprise you with photogenic features!Editing
Yes, I adjusted lighting and contrast, as well as increasing sharpness and clarity.In my camera bag
My main camera is my Canon Rebel T3 DLSR with an 18-55mm lens and a 50-250mm lens. I also usually pack my Detu Sphere, which has a fisheye lens for 360 and VR videos, and of course I have my cell phone in my pocket most of the time, and I'm always ready to take photos with it!Feedback
If you want to chase storms, I would advise taking a weather spotter training class from your local National Weather Service branch. These classes are free and will teach you a lot about the dynamics of thunderstorms. If you're just taking pictures of storms in your area and want to catch lightning, my best advice would be to look for an observable pattern to the lightning and try and time your shot to catch the bolt that's coming next. For example if the storm ahead produces flashes to the left, then the right, then ahead, you could potentially catch a bolt directly ahead by timing it after the lightning strikes on the right hand side again.
