Colorful Storm, a photo from Florida, South

Photographer's Note

As I mentioned before, in Summer Storm, I like the Florida summer storms. Tonight, Central Florida was covered by lightning filled clouds, and when the sun went down, the sky and everything reflecting it turned yellow, then orange, then reddish purple. I tried to add some of the elements mentioned in the reviews of my other storm photos, and so included more of the neighborhood, and I took the photo earlier in the evening for more color. This view is looking along several back yards, and over the fence you see apartment buildings. You can almost see the good neighbors helping each other with yard work two doors down.

Taken again with my little 2.3 mega pixel digital, set to 2nd light filter, and -0.9 (the lowest) brightness. I ran this through my program's despeckle and salt and pepper filters, sharpened, then cropped just a little off the sky for composition.
-----
Since several have mentioned: I was sitting and resting my elbows on my knees - no tripod (yes, I do own one...), so the blur is probably more because of me than the little camera. :o)

kaychambers, jurgen, chantal, GrahamB, willsmom, kajenn, jp80, opk, quegardens, pierrefonds, PJE ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2004-07-06 22:45

Awesome job Michele. I love lightning and we don't have it here very often. I like the colors, very surreal but at the same time very pretty. The houses seem th lack a little sharpness. But you did well.
[I'm glad I'm not the only one here with a little camera :)]

jurgen (2074) 2004-07-07 1:07

Good job and good colours of the sky. The photo is a little blurred; I suggest you to use a tripod (there are good ones at $30, my first one had that price at a Service Merchandise store back in 1995, sorry they are bankrupt). The shape of the lightning is also a very good one, even the position, though that is a little bit of luck.

chantal (940) 2004-07-07 1:49

Great shot and composition. The exposition is also excellent. I like the colors of this picture. I feel the storm's atmosphere when I look at it.

GrahamB (939) 2004-07-07 10:52

Excellent shot. I like the warm colours and the position of the lightning is perfect!

swallace (980) 2004-07-07 15:58

Hi Michelle, awesome lightning shot. I haven't been successful yet at catching it on camera. You did a wonderful job here. Absolutely beautiful. Hope all is well.

Regards,
Stephen

waskahegan (0) 2004-07-07 21:51

Well done, good timing, I like the resulting overall colors

pamastro (7296) 2004-07-08 1:26

Nice capture of lightning, Michelle. I got my first lightning capture only a couple months ago. You did an excellent job, especially with 1/6 of a second. I set my camera to 8+ seconds and hope something happened while the shutter was open. And the blur works nicely here. It intensifies the electricity of the bolt as if it's jolting everything around. And it is an excellently placed one at the end of that cloud. Very good capture. A great decisive moment shot, I think.

willsmom (36) 2004-07-08 18:34

I love the rich color and the shot! I haven't tried to get lightning yet. I think the centering and composition are quite well done, I know getting sharpness in dark light is not easy. I have the same problem.

kajenn (2462) 2004-07-09 21:59

I missed this one, Michelle. But you didn't miss! This is spot on in the right moment - wow! And the light from the lightning is "outrageous", really adding a powerful feeling to the whole image. The slight blur of the closest surrounding emphasizes that feeling. This is a great one - keep them coming - well done!

jiherka (4552) 2004-07-10 16:47

Beautiful view of this lightning. the colours of the sky is fantastic. It's look like a waterfall form the clouds.
Well done Michelle.

AndrewGarn (10) 2004-07-16 14:26

Ooo nice, Sunset Lightning. The sky is sharp, it doesnt matter about the slightly blurry houses in foreground.:-)

rage_tm (623) 2004-10-13 2:16

Hi Michelle, great catch here considering you just used 1/6 seconds. Cropping some of the sky might improve the compo. But still an excellent shot.

opk (91) 2004-11-04 10:42

Fantastic colour. Well done for catching the lightning: anytime I've tried to photograph lightning, I've ended up with dark pictures containing just blackness. Also, your note is really good: plenty of detail on how the picture was taken.

quegardens (1469) 2004-11-10 7:19

How I envy people who get the opportunity to capture lightning...I never seem to have my camera ready when such moments arrive:-)This is remarkable for a handheld shot Michelle.The blur is not much of a distraction since the lightning provides the main show. And what a great sky you caught to go with it.I hope you don't mind a cropped version I did in workshop.

[workshop] [compare] +

jcazes (285) 2004-12-16 23:19

Tampa Bay - in your area, I thing -, is the "The Capital of thunderstorms in the United States"...

I would like take this king of pictures in Quebec during summers!

To see my weather pictures:

http://www.mediom.qc.ca/~jcazes/photosmeteo.html

Jean :-)

sohrab (7439) 2005-02-14 15:20

i'm always fascinated by lightening photographs. how ddid you manage it, was it all based on anticipation???
ok i think my hands are more stable than yours :) since i often shoot on 1/8 second shutter speed and even slower
but i love the overall effect here.
the next time you should place the camera on top of a car or something. i think it's better not to rest your elbows on your kness, i think there's a bigger chance of your camera shaking then
take care :)

Our-Scotland (6) 2005-02-25 16:34

How many pictures did you take to get this one? Well structured... superb shot!

eugeneahn (298) 2005-08-03 12:03

Wow great shot. Love the rosy tone that you get from what must be the long exposure. I'd crop out the bush on the right. The blur in the buildings is cool. It gives the image a liquid quality and makes the lightning bolt an even stronger focal point in the image because the lightning itself is quite sharp.

pierrefonds (114536) 2006-03-07 8:45

Hi Michelle,

This photo is impressive to capture a lightning during a storm, nice colors and good composition.

Pierre

PJE (20758) 2006-03-24 21:28

Wow excellent work in capturing this lighting. The mood here is so befitting for lighting. Excellent capture Michelle.

zeca (19762) 2006-04-18 21:28

Nice shot, Michelle! Excelent timing! I like the atmosphere of your pink image. I have also captured some lightnings and its interesting that they presented different colours. Sometimes rose, like yours, sometimes purple or blue, like I have. Like you, I had no tripod, but I´v used the botton of a glass to help me.
Well, you did a nice work here and a capture like this always deserve many congratulations from TE members.
All the best!
Zeca