July 12 2009 / ID / CG Lightning Fest

[Gerrit Gulden]

Last night was amazing to say the least. The whole day was pretty wild as we had 4 waves of convection move thru and each produced decent storms. After the 2nd wave I pretty much figured nothing else would happened, then I checked the Mesoanylysis and noticed Li's to -10 and Cape to around 1k, I knew if we could get more motisure that storms would not have any problems getting going.

By 9:30pm MDT, I noticed a decent cell forming near Blackfoot,ID and the storm was increasing in strength dramatically. That cell came thru within a half hour and I started shooting photos at ISO 100, F5.6 and my exposures were manually timed with a remote, basically opening for a bolt and then closing.

I took over 120 photos, I messed up about 50 photos cause of a super HIGH ISO (800) that I forgot was set and that left the photos looking like they were out of focus. Once I figured the ISO was HIGH the cell was basically 5 miles out and I was able to catch some amazing photos. Eventually that wave moved out of the area and I needed to charge the camera battery since I only had one battery.

I came back inside and noticed another wave moving in and knew I had about 30 minutes till it arrived to where I could get more cg photos. Once 30 minutes passed I went outside and Noticed that lightning was everwhere. I had radar on upstairs and noticed Lightning was shooting out of cells that werent even classified as Storms yet. It was amazing. I went outside and just went nuts with the camera , taking photo after photo.

Some of the CG's were pretty close but I stuck with it to get as much as I could.

At the end of the Night I had taken well over 200 photos with about 100 being keepers.

Here are a few.

See the rest @ http://www.severeidaho.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=57

ALL photos @ http://www.severeidaho.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=57

-gerrit

 

[Susan Strom]

Nice! Don't you love nights like that.

 

[Jeremy Jones]

Very Nice CG's there Gerrit!! I too had a night like the other night!! I spent over 3 hours shooting from the same spot in Northern Oklahoma. Bagged over 100 strikes!!
Here's two of the better shots from that night.

Man I love night like that!!

 

[Chris Hayes]

Best night I've had doing lightning photography was June 26, 2008. I was taking lightning pictures of storms just to the north of Salina from outside the KOA campground we were staying at. I forget exactly how many pictures I took that night, but I know it was well over 100, with 52 being keepers. Here are a couple.

 

[Karla Dorman]

... And I can't capture a strike like that to save my life. *sigh* GORGEOUS images, everyone, I am officially jealous! LOL

 

[Gerrit Gulden]

Awesome pictures everyone and Thanks for the comments. I can only hope to have more nights like July 12. My Nikon D40 handled perfectly, just need an additional battery.

Hows is the Monsoon going for you Susan? I hear its hotter than heck out there. I will be traveling this friday South on the I-15 Highway all the way to Vegas and then staying the night and finish my trip to Cali on Saturday. Gonna be fun but not looking forward to that dreaded heat.