Too close for comfort... by gradient
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Description
Although I have a few more shots, this is the third and will be the final image in this series.
There are two, possibly three distinct discharges in this image. The middle (main) and faint left hand bolt I think come from the same bolt. What is interesting is the right hand bolt...while it has no cloud bottom corona, that tells me that it originated higher up in the cloud formation...but it shows two points of contact with the earth. I always thought there was only one contact point for the electrical discharge to occur...perhaps some electrical engineers out there can help explain this.
Anyway, as you can tell by the title....this was one of the last shots I took....the strike occurred about 400m away...a little too close for comfort...and quite noisy too! Fortunately, the rain chased me indoors!
The bad part about a close up lightning shot is that the corona is so bright it tends to blow out the highlights....maybe I'll need to close the aperture a bit next time...lol!
Please be very very careful when attempting shots like these....storms are very dangerous.
Thanks for your views and comments on this series of images....I hoped you like them!
Evening of September 11th, 2006
Nikon D70
Enjoy!
Comments (26)
Love that song with McFly...la la la...too close for comfort..la la la. Another amazing shot! Enough said. #:o)
Brilliant mate:)
Excellent capture, not sure which one I like the best because these were all great. Thanks for sharing!
I can't help but wonder what it would look like to have a camera pointing upwards as lightning struck. Then again, chances are the camera wouldn't survive, but I think it would be cool to see what the last thing to go through the lens (before the million volts, that is) looked like.
I get a charge looking at photos like this. :^)
WOW!! That's one damn fine shot. I'm glad it wasn't any closer though or we may not get to see many more. Keep 'em coming!! :)
Outstanding series of shots :)
Fantastic capture! Step leaders - channels of ionized air reaching for the ground, appears as glowing purple lines, which might be the explanation of the leftmost "strike" (although it could be a full blown strike agains another cloud, hard to say from the photo). And a lightning strike well might appear to strike more than one point at a time, but what actually happens is that upon first contact between a step leader (ionized channels reaching down from the clouds) and a positive streamer (oppositely charged channels of ionized air reachin up from the ground), the step leaders that are "left behind" will discharge immediately afterward - with the effect of making the lightning seem to strike more than one point at once. These secondary strikes will however be weaker than the original strikes (as is evident from your photo, one of the tendrils reaching earth is obviously the "main" strike). Excellent work!
I've tried many a times to capture the fierce lightning bolts and never was successful. But the rush you get when trying to do so. Its just to close for comfort. Excellent shot. Aloha
awesome captures! i saw a storm a few nights ago too, but i did not have my camera with me...
I love lightning!! Been trying to photograph it all my life- Unsuccessfuly- Too fast to capture- Brilliant job- great clarity- and deep, dark magically beautiful clouds above! Wow! Beautiful!
yesssss, a very good single of mcfly!!! Excellent shots and very nice and beautiful color my friend!!! Good day and hugs ;)
Extremely good capture of a thunderstorm! Your effort really paid off! In the very literal sense: striking image!
Houla, a very good photography with nice sky and colors. have a good day
Fabulous capture!!
Extremely good!
WOW! Stunning! Very close for sure. A tripod would act like a lighting rod in those conditions lol. Amazing:)
Cool stuff, John, and not one telephone line!
Amazing capture. You are really brave to spend so much time close to the storm.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing this series.
Fantastic capture!!!
That is wonderful!!! Be careful won't you this looks very close!! What an excellent capture - your patience really paid off! Probably the shot of a life time....
A one and only capture. Never will we see this pattern again ...I like the light on the clouds as well - outstanding one John!
Did you get a chance to read your comments, but this is an excellent shot. These are so hard to capture knowing the weather condition when you have lighting. Great job. Perfect framing as well
Striking! FIVE STARS
Love the clouds in this one... Really looks ominous and dangerous... not to mention the lighting! :) Awesome! :)