Nature's Fireworks....

Well.... while waiting for fireworks high above the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, myself and my compatriots found ourselves setting up to photograph at the tail end of a thunderstorm only to find some seriously impressive lightning.  I covered the lens quickly as I was hoping to incorporate fireworks in the shot as it was minutes before the scheduled start of the show.... which was delayed an hour and a half.


(Authors Note/disclaimer:  Photographing lightning from the roof of any building is rather foolish and should not be attempted.  Always be mindful of your surroundings and photograph lightning from safe areas)

Lightning.... Part Whatever.

I found a new spot to hate shoot lightning from - the roof of the parking deck at Lake Herrick.

Too many damm light poles around; they both ruin the shot AND run the risk of attracting unwanted electrical attention.

As a friend said "If there are light poles, there are light poles; I just think it looks better without them." (Well put)

I have another lightning photo idea for there, just need some storms to pop up at night again.

Lightning over Downtown

Okay. I admit it, its been a month.

For those who are "in the know" its been one hell of a month and I've been dealing with some personal issues. Said issues have now been taken care of and now back to some photos

Now about 3 weeks ago, there was a really nice lightning storm downtown. I really have to find another lighting spot to shoot from as we've milked the city hall shot for all its worth.

Anyways, this was another example of standing on the roof of a parking garage in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Quick Storm Chasing

So I'm back in Athens. The road was long and hard. The hotel room life is not for me, not at 15 days at a stretch. CWS was a lot of fun but its good to be home.

Yesterday I'm just relaxing on a Sunday when i hear about storms in the area. I check the weather radar, grab the camera and tripod and went to the top of the tallest parking garage in town and looked west.

Now Daytime lightning requires a bunch of things. LUCK, good planning, and a ND filter of some sort. Since i don't have a big ND filter, I used a polarizer which is effectively a 2 stop ND filter. Just used a shutter release, tripod, f/22 and aperture priority. I basically just watched where the cells were that the lightning was striking from, put them in the frame, composed a 1/2 decent shot motor drived it on a 4 gig card, hoping that i'd get what i want. Average exposure was about 4 seconds.

IMPORTANT - You need to take personal safety into account. If you can see lightning and hear thunder, there is a chance it can hit you. Especially if you have a giant metal tripod and are the tallest thing around, say on the top of a seven-story tall parking garage. You have to be very aware of what is going on around you and how fast the storm is coming. If the storm has already hit, i recommend the 2nd level from the top of a parking garage. Also you don't get wet that way.

There is a product out there called a lightning trigger which makes catching the pretty lightning much easier. I have seen it in person, used by storm chaser and action news photographer Gene Blevins and i would highly recommend purchasing said tool if you are really into this. (Like I am)