Sunday, July 14, 2013

Stormy weather

As with each photography category - portraits, sports, dance, art - weather photography has its own challenges, and I have always been curious about the difficulty of photographing lightning.  Rising to the challenge this week, with increased thunderstorm activity in the great Southwest, I set out to capture lightning.  Not out in the open (although one summer at Girl Scout Camp I danced around a metal flag pole during a thunderstorm) but from the relative comfort of our portal.

What did I learn?   Focus should not only be on the lightning but on the landscape and clouds.  You can count and "gestimate" when strikes might occur.  And it takes a lot of patience.  I thought my nose was going to be permanently altered to one side after pressing my face against the viewfinder for lengthy periods of time.  Obviously, I need more practice but here are a few weather shots from a rousing storm this week.  Not a drop of rain fell on our land from this seemingly ominous storm.










until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

1 comment:

  1. All three capture the feeling of storms over the high desert but it really resonates when you actually get the lightning strike. I've been told that long exposures are the key to that.

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