Donnerkeil!

'Donnerkeil' is a German word for 'thunderbolt', but is commonly used there for an exclamation of surprise ('My Heavens!', 'Oh, s**t!', etc.).
Pretty much what I thought when I drove 8 miles up to Mesa Verde to get a better view of an amazing lightning storm over Montezuma Valley.
Then I said it again when I opened this up in ACR! I only saw brilliant flashes and dark skies during the storm, but the sensor saw differently.
About the only PP I did here was in ACR and that was to reduce the areas of overexposure to better define the bolts.
24mm @ 30 sec./f5.6

Nice capture, John. Thanks for posting ur settings. Wondered what folks typically used. However, I am somewhat surprised the whole image isn't blown out with a 30 second capture. Must have been really dark skies?

Thanks, Ken. They were dark skies to my eye, but a long exposure revealed details that my eye simply did not see.

I prefer "Holy sh*t!" This is awesome, John! I really love the nuclear blast look of the sky from where the bolt emanates.

"Schiesten der hosen" which is what I would have done in my pants if I saw this coming at me!
Joe Rogers

LOL Joe! Love the combination of long-exposure blur in the clouds combined with the instantaneous bolt of lightning John. Great processing to make these seemingly incompatible events work together in the final image.

Cool shot. The sky colors, cloud shape, and the rain coming down illuminated by the lightning is nice. Maybe darken the small patch of bright sky right on the left edge?

Its always amazing how camera sensors see things differently than our eyes. Love the colors and streaks of rain accompanying the bolt.

Yowza! What a bolt, and the cloud structure is epic!

Stunning! ( worst pun ever...) The cloud motion really adds a dynamic touch to the already dynamic image.

Fantastic image John. It is amazing what the camera see's that we don't.

erstaunliche erschossen

Mein Gott!