Electrified No. 2

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 22, 20111,757 views19 comments

More lightning from Arches NP. This was taken a few minutes before my previous post. The cell that was producing this lightning was moving from left to right across the scene and most of the strikes consisted of multiple bolts. I shot this at a slightly longer focal length and cropped about 30 to 40 percent, so the lightning appears closer here.
Thanks and comments welcome,
Rudy

D700, 24-70mm @ 56mm
4.0s @ f18, Polarizer

Comments

19 comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on September 22, 2011 at 8:59 PM

Dramatic image.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Pam Colander on September 23, 2011 at 12:30 AM

Excellent shot Rudy! That is quite a capture

Registered on December 7, 2006, 210 Posts, 1062 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on September 23, 2011 at 1:25 AM

Striking Rudy (sorry, could not resist). Wonderful eerie mood.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on September 23, 2011 at 1:38 AM

Gota love that when that happens! I have always loved those displays of power. Nice shot! Nice scene too!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Jeffry Oonk on September 23, 2011 at 5:18 AM

Very powerful. Scary light-bolts!
Great shot
Thx
Jef

Registered on February 5, 2011, 21 Posts, 122 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on September 23, 2011 at 9:58 AM

Wow, an amazing capture, great job with the light(ning)! The green/red color balance seems a bit strong on the green side thorughout the image (sky, formations, bushes) - you might want to bump that a bit more to the reds?

Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on September 23, 2011 at 12:39 PM

Wow! Wonderful capture. I loved it ... and the cropping you made seems perfect. Adds a lot of strength to the image.

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Sarah Marino on September 23, 2011 at 2:34 PM

Rudy - love the drama here! You also found a nice composition for the land, which often seems to be lacking in lightning images. I agree with Rick about the color cast, but otherwise like this a lot. Nice work!

Registered on November 10, 2008, 23 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on September 24, 2011 at 12:44 AM

Rudy,

Amazing photo. the lightning looks dangerously close in this image. I also love the blue undertones throughout the image. Gives it a cold and foreboding feel.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by Abdulla Bin Touq on September 24, 2011 at 2:32 AM

Wow such a dramatic neat image!

Registered on January 2, 2011, 10 Posts, 68 Comments

Comment posted by Sebastian Kraus on September 24, 2011 at 5:57 PM

how cool is that!

Registered on March 17, 2011, 30 Posts, 132 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on September 25, 2011 at 10:44 AM

An excellent lighting shot with so many bolts and an interesting foreground.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on September 25, 2011 at 12:47 PM

Wow--only 12 comments, what's with that?

AWESOME shot, Rudy, great fg to go with the killer atmospherics. My only suggestion is that i agree with Rick--i think warmer is the way to go here with those fg formations--id slap a warming filter on this and i think it would be perfect.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on September 25, 2011 at 7:33 PM

Rudy,

Awesome lightning image! Those strikes over the fascinating landscape are making for an excellent combination. No nits really, although I would agree with previous comments about warming up the landscape; definitely leaning quite cyan, especially if you look at the cloud/rain coming in the ULC. But not a big deal, this is just a great moment and capture of nature's amazing sights.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Adrian Klein on September 25, 2011 at 11:16 PM

When nature puts on a show like this and you are there to capture it with the camera... cannot think of much better of an evening. Great shot.

Registered on June 10, 2007, 112 Posts, 1506 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on September 26, 2011 at 5:44 AM

Fabulous lightning shot, Rudy. Love the placement of the bolts around the main rock stack. I would have been a bit nervous being so close to the lightning while out in the open using a tripod

I agree re warming up the land would be a nice addition. Amazing capture!

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on September 26, 2011 at 11:30 AM

Amazing shot Rudy. I agree with the others about warming it up. The cool, blue sky looks awesome - the trees in the foreground look like they have too much cyan. I think you could selectively adjust the scene and not lose the color of the sky it that's what you were aiming at here. Wonderful image.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Rudy Ruberti on September 26, 2011 at 3:21 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll work on this and see if I can improve the colors.
Thanks,
Rudy

Registered on October 28, 2008, 179 Posts, 1875 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on September 26, 2011 at 11:16 PM

How did I miss this post !! WOW, talk about being in the right place at the right time

I like how the top layer band of cloud balances the foreground. I would experiment with some adjustment layers to darken the left side to match the right darker side. Once you do that, I would darken the whole band to add more of a powerful feel to that top layer cloud band

I also feel that you could bring more detail out of those storm clouds in the middle section of your image. I agree that the colour balance needs to be adjusted.

Sarah is right, you sure found an interesting foreground for this image!

These are just some suggestions that are my personal choices

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments