# LIGHTNING PHOTOS



## MrFotoFool (Jul 29, 2014)

*POST YOUR LIGHTNING PHOTOS HERE!*

I will start with one from last night in my city of Tucson, Arizona.
5D3, 70-200 2_8 L (non IS).


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## Omni Images (Jul 29, 2014)

Bar Beach Skate Bowl Newcastle NSW Australia.
Canon 1DmkIV 14mm F2.8


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## Omni Images (Jul 29, 2014)

woops, this was the one


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## Omni Images (Jul 29, 2014)

Have a few of these from here.
Was a pretty scary night ... it was raining, so I had to hold an umbrella over the camera ... some shots turned out pure white due to close strikes behind me ... but I was getting some great shots ... !


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## christinaroberts (Aug 12, 2014)

Wow! These are great lightning shots. I like the last one.


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## jsukardi (Aug 12, 2014)

This was taken in Banten, in the western side of Java, Indonesia


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## Dylan777 (Aug 12, 2014)

jsukardi said:


> This was taken in Banten, in the western side of Java, Indonesia



Beautiful photo jsukardi. Welcome to CR


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## Cory (Aug 12, 2014)

South Carolina (near Charleston):


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## jsukardi (Aug 12, 2014)

Dylan777 said:


> jsukardi said:
> 
> 
> > This was taken in Banten, in the western side of Java, Indonesia
> ...



Thank you for the warm welcome, Dylan777


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## FEBS (Aug 12, 2014)

jsukardi said:


> This was taken in Banten, in the western side of Java, Indonesia



Very mice photo.

Welcome to CR


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## FEBS (Aug 12, 2014)

Cory said:


> South Carolina (near Charleston):



Nice combination Cory. Lightning and rainbow. Very nice


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## davidcl0nel (Aug 12, 2014)

Gewitter / Thunderstorm in Berlin by davidcl0nel, on Flickr




Lightning rod by davidcl0nel, on Flickr


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## FEBS (Aug 12, 2014)

Hi David,

This towers seems really attracking the lightning. What tower is it?


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## davidcl0nel (Aug 12, 2014)

TV-Tower Berlin/Germany, 368m.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 12, 2014)

At the Reno Air Races 2013



Lightning strike Clay Lacy P-51 Reno 2013 Sati 4321 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal Photography, on Flickr


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## FEBS (Aug 12, 2014)

davidcl0nel said:


> TV-Tower Berlin/Germany, 368m.



Hmm, worth visiting. Need to plan a city trip to Berlin then within the next few years. Can you go up to visit that tower?


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## bchernicoff (Aug 12, 2014)

This one is from back in 2011. 7D

Man, I miss that view over DC...


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## dbm (Aug 12, 2014)

south africa, 2012


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## davidcl0nel (Aug 12, 2014)

FEBS said:


> Hmm, worth visiting. Need to plan a city trip to Berlin then within the next few years. Can you go up to visit that tower?



Yes, and of course.


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## bdeutsch (Aug 12, 2014)

KeithBreazeal said:


> At the Reno Air Races 2013



Yowza. Great shot. Better day to have the planes on the ground than in the air, I think.

Deutsch Photography LLC: Actor and Corporate Headshots NYC | Family and Baby Portraits | NYC Wedding Photographer


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## Thorse (Aug 12, 2014)

Amazing ...
May i ask how you manage to take these photos?
Are you just burst-shooting and hope for the best ?


/Thorse


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## bchernicoff (Aug 12, 2014)

Thorse said:


> Are you just burst-shooting and hope for the best ?
> /Thorse



I was. I set a 2 seconds exposure, set the camera to continuous and held down the button on my wired remote.


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## niteclicks (Aug 22, 2014)

A couple of my favorites


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## Vossie (Aug 28, 2014)

An oldie taken back in 2007 in the Serengeti. EOS 30D with EF-S 10-22 @10mm, ISO 200, 12 s, f/5.6, tripod


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## rfdesigner (Jul 4, 2015)

Just had an image accepted by the BBC, mine's the one from whiteparish (6th still)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33395943

and now I've had a little longer to play with it and crop in which I think makes an improvement:


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## Click (Jul 4, 2015)

Well done, rfdesigner.


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## RyanRock (Jul 5, 2015)

niteclicks said:


> A couple of my favorites



My goodness - stunning images.


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## Valvebounce (Jul 5, 2015)

Hi Folks. 
Lovely shots you have all taken, it is unfortunate that such beauty can be so destructive and / or deadly. I love to watch lightning when it is about but would not wish to be on the receiving end. 



niteclicks said:


> A couple of my favorites


Were you in a car when you took the second shot? 



Vossie said:


> An oldie taken back in 2007 in the Serengeti. EOS 30D with EF-S 10-22 @10mm, ISO 200, 12 s, f/5.6, tripod


Really like your wide angle shot, was the tree the target or was the lightning further away, looks like a direct hit. 



rfdesigner said:


> Just had an image accepted by the BBC, mine's the one from whiteparish (6th still)



Congratulations on getting your shot on the BBC News site. 

Cheers, Graham.


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## rfdesigner (Jul 5, 2015)

Valvebounce said:


> Congratulations on getting your shot on the BBC News site.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.






Click said:


> Well done, rfdesigner.



Thanks both.. I'm still amazed at what a kit lens on this old 30D can do.


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## CapturingLight (Jul 7, 2015)

We had a pretty good storm roll though this weekend while I was at the cabin so I decided to try out Magic Lantern's exposure trigger. This was my 1st attempt at lightning photography I was happy enough with the result. Not as spectacular as some of the shots here, I will have to work on getting a better location. My 1st thought was to use manual mode and control the exposure of the scene myself but I quickly realized that was misguided as I was triggering the shutter when the exposure changed with the lightning strike. Switching to Av left me feeling like what kind of exposure I got in the scene was somewhat out of my control. Do most just deal with this in post or is there a trick I am missing.


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## TheJock (Jul 7, 2015)

Not a photo, but a video of the world’s tallest building being struck earlier this year, taken from my office window!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/16314627015/in/album-72157651570652764/


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## rfdesigner (Jul 7, 2015)

CapturingLight said:


> We had a pretty good storm roll though this weekend while I was at the cabin so I decided to try out Magic Lantern's exposure trigger. This was my 1st attempt at lightning photography I was happy enough with the result. Not as spectacular as some of the shots here, I will have to work on getting a better location. My 1st thought was to use manual mode and control the exposure of the scene myself but I quickly realized that was misguided as I was triggering the shutter when the exposure changed with the lightning strike. Switching to Av left me feeling like what kind of exposure I got in the scene was somewhat out of my control. Do most just deal with this in post or is there a trick I am missing.



I used manual mode: f/16 ISO 800 and 5 seconds expsures, taken in "High speed shutter" mode, then kept firing. >50% of shots caught some kind of flash, mostly sheet lightning and those with more than one just overexposed, it was quite a storm.

If I were to do it again, I think I'd go for f8 ISO 200 to minimise noise, at least at f/16 I didn't have to worry about focussing. Of course foreground also makes a difference, I don't have streetlights to contend with.

Note I used a monopod as I realised the lighting wouldn't blur due to camera shake, however if you've got a foreground or something terrestial lit you'd need a tripod.


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## strykapose (Jul 8, 2015)

Not sure how I can post up my shots here, but here's a link to a bunch of my NYC lightning strikes, most are hitting the WTC Tower.
If anyone can do a quick "Tutorial" on how to post my individual shots ( ie. HTML, iFrame or BBCode )
and show me the difference, I'd appreciate it. 
Thanks everyone!!!
Sam

www.flickr.com/photos/strykapose/sets/72157631121859606


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## Valvebounce (Jul 8, 2015)

Hi CapturingLight. 
Very nice shots, I'm guessing that ML worked well for you. On the second shot you have a line of light from top middle going to the fir tree, is this a lightning bolt, or the edge of the cloud illuminated by the spoked strike? 
I really like the second shot either way. 

Cheers, Graham. 



CapturingLight said:


> We had a pretty good storm roll though this weekend while I was at the cabin so I decided to try out Magic Lantern's exposure trigger. This was my 1st attempt at lightning photography I was happy enough with the result. Not as spectacular as some of the shots here, I will have to work on getting a better location. My 1st thought was to use manual mode and control the exposure of the scene myself but I quickly realized that was misguided as I was triggering the shutter when the exposure changed with the lightning strike. Switching to Av left me feeling like what kind of exposure I got in the scene was somewhat out of my control. Do most just deal with this in post or is there a trick I am missing.


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## Valvebounce (Jul 8, 2015)

Hi Sam. 
Some excellent shots that you linked to. 
If you want to post from Flickr you use the curved arrow on the right below the image, select BBCode, set the size, (I think the forum limit is 800 wide) select all and copy the line of text, paste to page on forum. 
This is the method I use, I have no idea about the other methods. Hope this helps. 

Cheers, Graham. 



strykapose said:


> Not sure how I can post up my shots here, but here's a link to a bunch of my NYC lightning strikes, most are hitting the WTC Tower.
> If anyone can do a quick "Tutorial" on how to post my individual shots ( ie. HTML, iFrame or BBCode )
> and show me the difference, I'd appreciate it.
> Thanks everyone!!!
> ...


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## CapturingLight (Jul 8, 2015)

rfdesigner said:


> CapturingLight said:
> 
> 
> > We had a pretty good storm roll though this weekend while I was at the cabin so I decided to try out Magic Lantern's exposure trigger. This was my 1st attempt at lightning photography I was happy enough with the result. Not as spectacular as some of the shots here, I will have to work on getting a better location. My 1st thought was to use manual mode and control the exposure of the scene myself but I quickly realized that was misguided as I was triggering the shutter when the exposure changed with the lightning strike. Switching to Av left me feeling like what kind of exposure I got in the scene was somewhat out of my control. Do most just deal with this in post or is there a trick I am missing.
> ...


That is a great bolt that you managed to capture the picture has nice colour to it as well. The long exposure is interesting thought. I don't know if a 5 second exposure is needed when using the ML or other trigger but I am wondering if something on the order of 1-2 seconds would capture more branches of the bolt than I got. Both my photos above ended up at ISO 800 f5.0 1/125 s crop sensor. As you mention I am not quite sure how to deal with a more lighted scene such as a streetlamp and balance the lightning with the foreground exposure. I think one of the earlier posts may have been a HDR shot which is one solution I suppose, but my experience with that is very limited.


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## CapturingLight (Jul 8, 2015)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Sam.
> Some excellent shots that you linked to.
> If you want to post from Flickr you use the curved arrow on the right below the image, select BBCode, set the size, (I think the forum limit is 800 wide) select all and copy the line of text, paste to page on forum.
> This is the method I use, I have no idea about the other methods. Hope this helps.
> ...



Here is a form discussion I found very helpful 
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=18464.msg344634#msg344634


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## CapturingLight (Jul 8, 2015)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi CapturingLight.
> Very nice shots, I'm guessing that ML worked well for you. On the second shot you have a line of light from top middle going to the fir tree, is this a lightning bolt, or the edge of the cloud illuminated by the spoked strike?
> I really like the second shot either way.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.



Graham,
I am glad you enjoyed the shots, the ones you linked to are spectacular. It makes me want to find an opportunity to take some city scape rain shots I would have to find a way to keep my camera dry though. Apart from my 100L macro my body and lens collection are not at all weather proof. The shots I took were thought a freshly cleaned patio door.

I am fairly certain the horizontal line is another lightning strike I can assure you it did not hit the tree but something in the distance.

Correction I just realized I mixed up the posts, the credit for the city scapes must go to strykapose, My aplogies.


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## agierke (Jul 8, 2015)

Iso 320 F11 30 sec


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## strykapose (Jul 8, 2015)

Thank You Graham,
Im going to try one out now.



Valvebounce said:


> Hi Sam.
> Some excellent shots that you linked to.
> If you want to post from Flickr you use the curved arrow on the right below the image, select BBCode, set the size, (I think the forum limit is 800 wide) select all and copy the line of text, paste to page on forum.
> This is the method I use, I have no idea about the other methods. Hope this helps.
> ...


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## strykapose (Jul 8, 2015)

Thank you also CapturingLight,




CapturingLight said:


> Valvebounce said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Sam.
> ...


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## strykapose (Jul 8, 2015)

here is an attempt to post up a shot here;



Lightning Strikes World Trade Center 7/15/2014 # 6 of 6 by Sam Yee, on Flickr


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## strykapose (Jul 8, 2015)

Here is a simultaneous lightning strike of 1WTC and ESB 



Lightning Strikes World Trade Center and Empire State Building Simultaneously 7/2/2014 # 2 of 17 by Sam Yee, on Flickr


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## Dylan777 (Jul 9, 2015)

Guilin, China. It feels that way 

http://dylannguyen.smugmug.com/photos/i-HZHrGHm/0/O/i-HZHrGHm.jpg


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## Valvebounce (Jul 9, 2015)

Hi strykapose. 
It seems you have sussed out how to post now, great shots. 

Cheers, Graham. 



strykapose said:


> Here is a simultaneous lightning strike of 1WTC and ESB


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## Click (Jul 9, 2015)

agierke said:


> Iso 320 F11 30 sec




Very nice shot, agierke.


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## Click (Jul 9, 2015)

strykapose said:


> here is an attempt to post up a shot here;



Beautiful. Well done strykapose.


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## Click (Jul 9, 2015)

strykapose said:


> Here is a simultaneous lightning strike of 1WTC and ESB




Great shot, strykapose. Nicely done


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## strykapose (Jul 9, 2015)

Thank you Graham for the tip,
I wasn't sure which to use, now I see there is a preview prior to posting to see what it looks like.
Thanks once again.
Sam




Valvebounce said:


> Hi strykapose.
> It seems you have sussed out how to post now, great shots.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.
> ...


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## strykapose (Jul 9, 2015)

Click said:


> strykapose said:
> 
> 
> > Here is a simultaneous lightning strike of 1WTC and ESB
> ...


Thank you Click




Click said:


> strykapose said:
> 
> 
> > here is an attempt to post up a shot here;
> ...





Click said:


> strykapose said:
> 
> 
> > here is an attempt to post up a shot here;
> ...


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## rfdesigner (Jul 9, 2015)

CapturingLight said:


> rfdesigner said:
> 
> 
> > CapturingLight said:
> ...



I think you might need the long exposure.. or lots of them, and some luck.

The reason is the way lighting works.. 

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/lightning2.html

You could be picking up only one of the later pulses and missing the main show by using a trigger, I would expect the air to become more conductive once the first pulse has occurred, so the faint side shoots would tend to die away, long shots will get all the bolts and the "feelers" that don't complete. I tried much longer exposures but lost one or two bolts to massive sheet lighting comming along and bleaching out the whole shot, so I think something in the order of 5 seconds feels about right.. perhaps in a less intense storm 10 seconds would be better.


Some other very nice shots being put up as well... thanks to all for sharing.


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## agierke (Jul 10, 2015)

lightning in effect has a built in shutter speed much like a speedlight has. though it pulses, it is still a pretty short duration so considerations for exposure should be more about aperture and ISO. 

thats why i use 30 secs for lightning shots and i dial in the aperture and ISO to suit the surrounding scene. if your ISO is too high or your aperture too wide open a lightning strike can overexpose the scene. longer shutter speeds only mean more of an opportunity to catch a strike (or multiple strikes) in each frame.


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## CapturingLight (Jul 10, 2015)

rfdesigner said:


> CapturingLight said:
> 
> 
> > rfdesigner said:
> ...



rfdesigner,
That is a super awesome link you found, it gives a much better understanding of the beast we look to capture. It is a little depressing though as I found magic lantern to be a rather efficient method with the capture rate being pretty good. It gives ok results but of course none of us are here to produce just ok images. Magic Lanterns user guide says detection takes about 200 and 300 ms which given the reference material surprises me that I got such good results. Not all is lost for ML and lightning though at least it gives me a Intervalometer. I do notice most here are using longer exposures even up to 30 seconds or so. I now find myself in the unusual position of hoping for rain to experiment some more. 
Thanks so much for the feedback the knowledge here never fails to impress.


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## davidcl0nel (Jul 14, 2015)

davidcl0nel said:


> ....



This were the results of the last years.

For this year until now I got this:



Power by David, on Flickr


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## azhelishot (Feb 15, 2016)

Here is a pic from this season Monsoon in Arizona...many good lightning photo ops every year.


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## JMZawodny (Feb 15, 2016)

Every so often lightning goes up!


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## Claire (Feb 15, 2016)

Here are three photos I shot on two consecutive days in July 2015 at the Grand Canyon while a great monsoon was in action. I used a 24-70mm lens and Stepping Stone's Lightning Trigger IV.


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## brad-man (Feb 15, 2016)

Magnificent photos Claire. Welcome to CR!


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## Click (Feb 15, 2016)

Claire said:


> Here are three photos I shot on two consecutive days in July 2015 at the Grand Canyon while a great monsoon was in action. I used a 24-70mm lens and Stepping Stone's Lightning Trigger IV.



Stunning pictures. Welcome to CR


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## Click (Feb 15, 2016)

JMZawodny said:


> Every so often lightning goes up!



Great shots. Nicely done.


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## NorbR (Feb 15, 2016)

Claire said:


> Here are three photos I shot on two consecutive days in July 2015 at the Grand Canyon while a great monsoon was in action. I used a 24-70mm lens and Stepping Stone's Lightning Trigger IV.



Wow! Now that's a first post 
Stunning pictures, thanks for sharing.


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## CTJohn (Feb 15, 2016)

agierke said:


> lightning in effect has a built in shutter speed much like a speedlight has. though it pulses, it is still a pretty short duration so considerations for exposure should be more about aperture and ISO.
> 
> thats why i use 30 secs for lightning shots and i dial in the aperture and ISO to suit the surrounding scene. if your ISO is too high or your aperture too wide open a lightning strike can overexpose the scene. longer shutter speeds only mean more of an opportunity to catch a strike (or multiple strikes) in each frame.


I've never tried these, but this discussion has me interested. How about using a neutral density filter with a long exposure? Would that work with lightning and allow the longer exposure? I guess the important thing is nothing (like a palm tree) that moves in the scene.


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## Mr Bean (Feb 16, 2016)

Near Cooma, New South Wales (Australia) a few nights ago. The storm was moving away from us, as the stars came out.

5D3 with 15mm - 30 sec @ f2.8 ISO3,200


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## Click (Feb 16, 2016)

Awesome. 8) Great shot, Mr Bean.


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## Mr Bean (Feb 16, 2016)

Thanks Click. One of those "right spot, right time" situations


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## Valvebounce (Feb 16, 2016)

Hi Mr Bean. 
One should never attribute to luck things that took planning, humping tons of gear to the right place and the patience to sit and wait! ;D ;D 
Nice shots from all, Claire, lovely shots, but you have set your bar very high on your first post. 

Cheers, Graham. 



Mr Bean said:


> Thanks Click. One of those "right spot, right time" situations


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## Mr Bean (Feb 16, 2016)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Mr Bean.
> One should never attribute to luck things that took planning, humping tons of gear to the right place and the patience to sit and wait! ;D ;D
> Nice shots from all, Claire, lovely shots, but you have set your bar very high on your first post.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.


LOL, to complicate things, I had checked out a couple of locations during the day for star pic's only, but when the storm suddenly popped up at the last moment, I had to re-scout a location in the dark, which wasn't easy


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## Mr Bean (Feb 16, 2016)

Valvebounce said:


> Nice shots from all, Claire, lovely shots, but you have set your bar very high on your first post.


Yes, brilliant pic's Claire. I love the third one.


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## slclick (Feb 16, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> Near Cooma, New South Wales (Australia) a few nights ago. The storm was moving away from us, as the stars came out.
> 
> 5D3 with 15mm - 30 sec @ f2.8 ISO3,200



L O V E this, you must have the patience of an elephant


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## dhr90 (Feb 16, 2016)

Fantastic shots Claire! Some great shots on every page of this thread so far. Hope to contribute myself one day, but lightning storms are very infrequent around my area.


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## Valvebounce (Feb 17, 2016)

Hi dhr90. 
Lightning storms here are infrequent too, I can remember as a child laying in bed, I'd have been in bed by 9ish watching a lightning storm on many evenings each summer, now when we do get a storm most often it is the wee small hours of the morning and if it wakes me just an inconvenience, I miss those evening storms and by that I mean I'd take anything before about midnight! ;D

Cheers, Graham. 



dhr90 said:


> Hope to contribute myself one day, but lightning storms are very infrequent around my area.


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## Mr Bean (Feb 17, 2016)

slclick said:


> Mr Bean said:
> 
> 
> > Near Cooma, New South Wales (Australia) a few nights ago. The storm was moving away from us, as the stars came out.
> ...


Thanks slclick. It was a long night


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## dhr90 (Feb 17, 2016)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi dhr90.
> Lightning storms here are infrequent too, I can remember as a child laying in bed, I'd have been in bed by 9ish watching a lightning storm on many evenings each summer, now when we do get a storm most often it is the wee small hours of the morning and if it wakes me just an inconvenience, I miss those evening storms and by that I mean I'd take anything before about midnight! ;D
> 
> Cheers, Graham.
> ...



I know what you mean about all storms seemingly being in the early hours of the morning, usually when you have to be up early for work the next day too. I would love to go for a month long storm chasing trip to the USA one year!


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