DSLRUsers.com

I have stopped sneezing and wheezing just long enough in this spring pollen season to take a few photos in the backyard this evening. Electrical storms are upon us again. I love storms, just not the humid build up that drives everyone nuts. T'would be good to have air conditioning, but it is nice to have a lower power bill at the end of summer! Anyway, here's a picture from tonight's storm:


Coffs Harbour electrical storm 14/11/11 by Ozimax, on Flickr

Holy smokes batman. You sure have a quick finger on ya shutter.

Ozi, surely yopu don't need this HDR fuglyness for it to be a cool image??? Let me see it without HDR if you don't mind.

surenj wrote:Holy smokes batman. You sure have a quick finger on ya shutter.

Ozi, surely yopu don't need this HDR fuglyness for it to be a cool image??? Let me see it without HDR if you don't mind.

Suren, no HDR this time, just a small tweak in Topaz Adjust. Actually, there are lots of colours in lightning storms, or so it seems. The camera's sensor (with a 30 sec exposure) picks up a lot that I could only see for a tiny instant of a second with the naked eye. This image is most probably a tad oversaturated but I will muck around with it tomorrow if I get the time.

What was interesting was taking an HD video of the storm with the 5D. There was a lot of action that couldn't be seen with the naked eye but was visible on the LCD screen. Clever things, them cameras.

ozimax wrote:Suren, no HDR this time, just a small tweak in Topaz Adjust.

This may be semantic but my understanding is that Topaz makes adjustments to the midtones and saturation bringing out detail much like a highpass/HDR sort of look. Although it's not technically HDR perse, looks like HDR especially with the random color casts and halos around your image.

Coming back to the image, I reckon it's a stellar capture and you don't need those effects. Maybe you could apply selectively just to those clouds surrounding the strike.

Also keen to have a look at the video.

Wow that's amazing

Would you mind sharing how this was shot? Tripod, 30 sec exposure, and just point it at the right direction?

surenj wrote:Also keen to have a look at the video.

So was I, but alas, my manual focussing was way off, so off in fact that the file has been digitally dustbinned. Unfortunately, everything looks sharp on a tiny camera LCD, but it's often not so when viewed larger.

surenj wrote:Also keen to have a look at the video.

So was I, but alas, my manual focussing was way off, so off in fact that the file has been digitally dustbinned. Unfortunately, everything looks sharp on a tiny camera LCD, but it's often not so when viewed larger.

That's brilliant in both an absolute and allegorical sense.

This is an epic image. Outstanding ozi !

cracking shot ozi, but at 30 seconds, i am not overly impressed

whilst composition is quite difficult in these situations, i reckon relocating to a possie withour the house in teh foreground would turn this into a epic shot.

biggerry wrote:cracking shot ozi, but at 30 seconds, i am not overly impressed

whilst composition is quite difficult in these situations, i reckon relocating to a possie withour the house in teh foreground would turn this into a epic shot.

I get your point Gerry, but unfortunately it just wasn't possible. In the front yard the view was eminently better, but there were 5.6 million power lines, so it is no-photo zone, unless you like capturing power lines!

If I had had more time, there are many excellent vantage points around the Coffs area, but the light was fading fast, as was the storm.

I love it. It conveys a sense of tension and drama, which is, of course, exactly what a storm represents.

The only thing it needs is a super of Sir Jack of Nicholson's face, perhaps from his "Here's Johnny" scene in The Shining, bursting forth from the clouds.

Or perhaps a ruptured HDD at the source of the lightning, representing some problems in the cloud?

I reckon this image, suitably cropped, could have an additional use.

The clouds remind me of brain matter, and the lightning flash could be a synaptic communication between a couple of cells!

Just thought I would toss it in!

Ozimax
That image is a competition winner! It is a stunning environmental image that captures the terrifying power of nature. I love the roof in the foreground as it sets a human dimension to the image that infers we are puny against the force in the clouds. There are a number of publications running competitions of a scientific/nature theme and you should track them down and enter that image. (I think 'The New Scientist' is running such a comp). Also, send the image to your favourite newspaper and they might feature it. Bravo!

A very dramatic capture. Well done.

Oh my!! Go Ozi