Al's Photography Blog

Al's Photography Blog
Pikes Peak As Seen From Our House

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Classic Western Storm

Here's a recent summer thunderstorm photo taken from our front yard - this is straight out of the camera, no editing.
I love these Western American skies - you're literally looking through the base of the thunderstorm. And it's my Skywatch Friday entry for the week. And I'm also linking it to ein stück himmel (a piece of heaven).

I often get questions on how I get lightning photos. This one was taken around sunset. I used an ND-4 filter, which simply darkens everything without changing the colors, allowing me to take a longer exposure to increase the chances of capturing a lightning flash (this one was 4 seconds long). I shut the aperture down to f/8.0; I don't normally like such a small aperture on a digital camera because it starts to soften everything, but it allowed a longer exposure which is the key for lightning photos. I live an area where we get frequent thunderstorms. And most importantly, I stayed safe, the storm was further away than it looks.

28 comments:

  1. What a fantastic, awesome capture, Al!! That is one dramatic sky! Hope your week is going well! Give Socks a pat for Sam and me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Al...I am not fond of thunder storm, but I have no chose in the matter when they happen...well I do hide under the bed ; }!!
    Stunning shot of amazing phenomenal happening!!
    Grace

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabulous! =) It sure is looking closer to the houses! I imagine after having followed you quite a long time, that you have a lot of western-storm with lightening and thundering!

    And you do it so well, behind the camera! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome shot. This perfectly captures the mood.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow,Al -what a fantastic piece of heaven!I love it!Great photo!Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fantastic photograph, beautiful and ominous face of the nature. I am greeting

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is fabulous! Great photo!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great moment captured. I too love thunderstorms both the noise and the flashes!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cool captures of the lightning, Al! Fantastic photo. Happy skywatching!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! What a wonderfully precise shot! Very nice

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow - amazing shot.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great capture, and thanks very much for the explanation on how you went about getting it! I look forward to trying my hand at this some day...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awesome shot Al, and of course capturing lightning during the daytime is far harder than capturing it at night. Without that ND filter you basically have no hope in capturing it. I will seriously have to put an ND filter on my list of purchases for the future. Thanks for sharing:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great shot of this dramatic weather. A fantastic photo indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Amazing shot!
    Enjoy the weekend:-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great shot! The composition of adding the houses into the frame was spot on!!
    Wollreflections

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love the storm!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for sharing your technique! I have been thinking of getting a neutral density filter to try one of those eerie water shots...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow, stunning, a terrific shot.
    Love greetings, Karin

    ReplyDelete
  20. fantastic sooc sky! thanks for sharing with us :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love a good thunderstorm! Fantastic capture! Happy SkyWatch Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  22. You always took wonderful lightning photos, Al!
    Thanks for the explanation.

    ReplyDelete

  23. · You are very lucky. You've been in the exact moment when the ray fell. Great shot.

    · hugs

    CR· & ·LMA
    ________________________________
    ·

    ReplyDelete
  24. Magnifica foto e grande colpo di fortuna !!!
    Buona domenica :)
    Myriam

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment - I love reading them and look forward to viewing your blog. If you only allow Google+ comments I won't be able to leave a comment in return.

Related Posts with Thumbnails