Supercell over Geneva, lightning picts

[Christophe Suarez]

Hi there,

On the 20th of june, a very nice supercell occured in the northern Alps. I intercepted the storm from the "Salève", a 1300m moutain close to Geneva. The base of the cumulonimbus was so low that I could take the strikes over Geneva from above. It's really a wonderful experience. Here are a few photos...

http://www.chasseurs-orages.com/images/Orages/suarez/foudre-20-06-07/DSC_4225.jpghttp://www.chasseurs-orages.com/images/Orages/suarez/foudre-20-06-07/DSC_4225.jpg

There are a few more photos on the French storm chasing forum http://foudre.chasseurs-orages.com/viewtopic.php?t=1515

Best regards,
Chris

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Holy Cow! Those are some amazing pictures!!!!!

 

[Justin Turcotte]

Those shots rank right up there with the famous CG/waterspout pic some years back. Very nice and marketable pics you have.

 

[John Wetter]

Hey Chris, those shots are awesome, and definately marketable. Can I ask what your camera/lens/settings were for those?

Just curious.

Thanks,
John

 

[Christophe Suarez]

Hey Chris, those shots are awesome, and definately marketable. Can I ask what your camera/lens/settings were for those?

Just curious.

Thanks,
John

Here it is John

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D50
ExposureTime - 30 seconds
FNumber - 10.00
ExposureProgram - Manual control
FocalLength - 32.00 mm
ISO Setting - 200
Image Quality - FINE
White Balance - AUTO
Image Sharpening - AUTO
Focus Mode - MANUAL
White Balance Adjustment - 0
Lens type - AF-D G

Regards,
Chris

 

[mike scantlin]

truly unbelievable. nice job.

 

[Dean Gill]

Incredible pictures Chris. Well done!
Did you actually see the wall cloud rotate?
Having observed the cell from the other side of the lake of Geneva, I could also clearly see the lowering for more than 30 minutes or so, but it was difficult to tell wether there was rotation or not. BTW, do you have more pictures of the wall cloud?
Anyway that was an impressive storm with lots of hail, flooding and blown down trees.

Congratulations!

Cheers

Dean

 

[Marko Korosec]

Holy moses! Those are one of the best lightning images I've ever seen, Chris! I always love these strikes over the city...but these shots from above, so you can see the bottom part of the strike on the ground...oh my...that is just spectacular!

Congratulations and thanks for posting them! Truly outstanding shots!

 

[Tony Laubach]

Wow... I'm not sure what else there is to say... amazing.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Those are a lightning chaser's dream. Great vantage point and perfect exposures.

 

[Grant Gutierrez]

Those are awesome, did you catch them in RAW or plain JPEG?

 

[Jeff Miller]

Those pictures rank in the top 5 of all lightning related photographs I have ever seen. These are definately award material - and some of the few pics that would give Hollingshead and Strom a jawdrop. Absolutely excellent photography - well done.

 

[Terry Tyler]

yeah, chris...amazing shots...

keep up the good work man!

 

[Bill Hark]

Chris, thank you for posting those images. Awesome! You also have some nice images on your webpage.

Bill Hark

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Indeed, those are spectacular. I've noticed from several other photographers that taking lightning photos from an elevated vantage over a valley as a storm rolls often results in spectacular shots, as you end up getting a sense of the volume of space the storm takes up. Personally, I would never have enough courage to scale up to the level of the bottom of the updraft base and whip out a metal tripod -- that takes a special kind of brave! Glad you didn't get zapped -- and excellent shots!