Florida Lightning

This is an amazing image. The lighting on the beach is superb and the exposure balance is right on. Fantastic.

In the profound words of the great American philosopher, Keanu Reeves, "Whoa..."

Excellent and different, I almost didn't click on the thumbnail thinking it was just another lightning shot, but this is different and works very well IMO.

Exceptional. The composition is great with the foreground green strip and the two groups of rocks that lead the eye to the lightning.

By the way - how much PS work required for this one, for the foreground etc?

Wow, I don't really know what to think or say about this Bob... I find it strangely, amazingly beautiful but so hyper-real that it's a bit disconcerting to me. The beach looks like it's lit by movie lighting or something. From a technical standpoint, I don't think I could have ever pulled this off. You considered exposure for the water, exposure for the lightning, exposure for the foreground....I would guess trial and error would be the word for it. It's so crisp and clean and that lightning is truly a wonder to behold. Dreamlike seems like a good word.

I saw this image.. first I thought "wow, what a cool shot"; then I wondered how you got the beach so bright; then I couldn't help but wish for a darker beach, to fit the mood; now I'm back to really liking it. There must be some conflicting moods going on in these borders. I think the important idea to take away with after all this pondering and commenting, I'll call it 'pondermenting', is "wow, what a cool shot!"

Thanks for posting this one Robert

Very vibrant photo. It's almost surreal.

In other words, I love it.

Are you kidding me? Haha! I love it , as is. That sky alone is worth the price of admission. Inspiring, to say the least, especially given the tough lighting conditions.

Robert, you grumpy, snarky, so and so; what an amazing image! My first thought was, "And the Earth is born".

My second thought was, "How'd you do dat?"

Superb!

In the profound words of the great American philosopher, Keanu Reeves, "Whoa...">>>>>


but my reaction is also...'Whoa..'

Awesome!

Amazing....no need to improve anything in PS! I especially like the blue light reflecting on the water.

Robert nice picture. Being willing to take shot after shot to get the right shot is what it is all about. Very nice lighting, even all the way around.

Yeah for you!!!

Pretty amazing shot Bob. I couldn't resist your invitation to tweak it a bit. Mostly done with Photokit's dodge tools. I'm sure you could get better results with the full size file.

http://www.painted-with-light.com/critique/bob.jpg

Everyone,

Thanks so much for the replies. I took my meds I am better now. LOL

Doug, thanks for the different version. I see that a lot of the toughts that I had, you had and you got some of the same results, if you lightened the beach, you lost the lightning.

I forgot to post the technicals.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II/ISO 400/28-80 mm 2.8 L @ 28 mm/F 8.0_30 Sec.

PS. Colleen, I guess you liked it.

As far as PS retouching, there wasn't too much done to this other than color correction of the beach, I had to take red out of the foreground. Still looks a bit red to me, I not sure.

I took about 250 shots to get this, yikes. Thank goodness the 1Ds Mark II will do about 1200 shots on a charge. It was a lot of fun and something that I will do again.

I like Preston's comment about the earth being born. Definitely has a quality about it of watching an act of creation, or something wonderful and terrible, and wondering if it's going to be coming this way soon.

Totally surreal. Never have seen anything quite like it. The light doesn't seem to make any sense, which I guess is what makes this such an intrigueing shot.

250 Shots...don't you love digital?

Blimey! adding to the enormous list of commendations is almost academic but I'm going too anyway. The odd thing is I haven't seen lighting in my part of the world for nearly three years. Stunning shot wonderfully er! electrocuted.

Robert,
Striking image! very surreal...
What are the techs on this?

Bob,
this is one of the most amazing images that I have ever seen! wow!

I like it as is, I wounldn't chnge a thing.

Very Very I really like the way the colors in the clouds are reflected in the water. Gives the photo a surreal look. Thanks for pointing this out in the Forum discussion, I hadn't seen it.

Really amazing what this group can shoot. This looks perfect to me. I particularly like the reflection of the lightening on the water.

Simply stunning!

Electric!!

Everyone,

I am truly amazed at the response that you had to this image.

I think Ana summed it up.

I like Preston's comment about the earth being born. Definitely has a quality about it of watching an act of creation, or something wonderful and terrible, and wondering if it's going to be coming this way soon.

--Ana

PS. The scary part is that with Global Warming and the really severe storms we have been having, I hope that this doesn't portend the future of our planet.

Never seen any better lightning picture, Just beutiful...

Beautiful image, Robert. Aside from overall light, which is fantastic as others have already mentioned, I am drawn to the fact that the lightning although happening far away seems so powerful. There is something primordial about the scene that draws me in.

I expect a print of this photo to be amazing. Great job.

Regards.

Bob: this is KILLER. No further correction is necessary. Surreal is good

Bob,

How'd I miss this? Cool dude! Gotta love that 1Ds! Hey, what beach was this?

Hey Bob, congrat to you on the pick of this incredible capture.

Bob, congratulations on your EP. Thisis absolutely fantastic. I bet some of your neighbors think you just went out and "clicked" to get this!! Great job

Very dramatic. Fantastic capture.