Derek I used the Auto layout as the Perspective didn't give me that open wide feel that I wanted.
You are correct Dann that is the system that produced that shot.
Rob...I will be honest with you. I just grabbed my Oly and the 150mm lens. I then ran up a hill, giving me an amazing vantage point, focused and shot the storm in several different places. Camera was set to Auto and I did a manual focus then let the camera tighten the focus a bit more. It was fun trying to get the focus points to activate on the storm but I figured it out.
As for cropping the final product I did have to crop after I merged the images but this was to mainly clean up the edges. I didn't remove any of the storm just some sky and ground.
I am no means a pro at this...I just get lucky from time to time. With my full time job as a met, part time jobs as web / graphics developer and father of 6 I don't have time to really learn the amazing art of photography. The good news is that in the right hands, Photoshop will make just about any photographer better than they really are.