Lucky Strike

[Paul Marcellini]

I was quite unlucky with most of the lightning and shutter timing but this was one of the last good ones, and I got it. Same night as the previous image.

I was also fortunate in the lighting, as it was bright enough to render the scene but dark enough for the bolt to stand out.

Thanks for looking,
Paul

20d, 10-22@20mm f8 iso100 25s

[Robert Amoruso]

Very very cool looking image. Branch in the FG, the grass, nice look/color to the water, the strip of land, the strip of clouds, the pink and blue of the sky just flow so well from the FG to the BG. Oh, the lightening bolt is a nice touch too. ;)

[Johannes Glännman]

The picture would be like perfect even without the lightning... This is just awsome, I am sorry. But as with so many other pictures on this forum I cant give any critics...

Cheers // Johannes

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Paul,
Nice job capturing the bolt and with a very nice all around comp also! I see you figured out that a long exposure is your friend. This does make the cloud movement a bit more noticable.......but it is not distracting and IMO adds to the overall mood. I'll have to let you borrow my lightning trigger when I go down........not sure Dec/Jan have many storms though.

[Paul Marcellini]

Thanks guys, it was definitely a great show that night. Just wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Yeah Roman, I've got a ton of lightning shots from last summer. Got a pretty good idea of what kind of exposures to use. I was trying the shorter exposures to render the clouds better but kept missing strikes so i said heck with it and started going longer.

Thanks again,
Paul

[Noel Carboni]

The contrast of the moving clouds against the sharp scenery (and bolt!) is very interesting. My first impression was that I'd rather have seen the clouds sharp as well, but then the disparity between them and the ground started to sink in and tell its story. I'm still torn whether I like the clouds blurry, but the view sure is captivating!

-Noel

[Judd Patterson]

My apologies for being so remiss in posting recently. This is a beauty Paul. That single lighting bolt is powerful and the overall blue/purple tones are perfect. The one thing I question is the foreground object. For whatever reason I'm just not sure about the stick. I wonder about an alternative composition with the reeds up closer and then allowing the lighting/storm carry the image. Don't know...