This time of year as the snow melts in the Sierra Nevada and many lingering masses of most air crossing California fail to result in a full-blown storm front, the moisture instead hits the increasingly energetic thermals in the Eastern Sierra and coalesce into thunder storms.
I caught the storm below in late April last year in single, composite and time-lapse video images, and I hope to chase a storm or two this coming Sunday and Monday, since lightning storms are in the forecast for this area.
Why I shared a past post: I don't like re-posting images as if they were new, that seems a little disingenuous, but I originally shared this back when I had a lot fewer contacts on G+, so most people here now haven't seen it. So to fully disclose the past post of it, I'm sharing that. (Am I over-thinking the whole thing, or is it good that ethical presentation actually means something to someone?)
Reshared post from +Jeff Sullivan
Serendipity
You prepare yourself, you place yourself, you carry and set up lots of gear, but sometimes success comes down to a flash of good fortune.Here's the time-lapse video of this storm on +YouTube:
Lightning Storm Formation (HD video)
http://youtu.be/I8OEEhKlKzEIn addition to single exposures like this and the time-lapse video, I also used the free StarStaX app to create a composite image with all of the lightning strikes, plus star trails! The process is described in this blog post:
Creating Star Trails Images
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2011/05/creating-star-trail-images.htmlThis image was selected "Photo of the Day" over on the Outdoor Photographer Magazine blog:
Photo Of The Day 9/19/2012
http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/blog/christopher-robinson/2012/09/photo-of-the-day-9192012.htmlThis was shot in the Eastern Sierra region, not far from Bridgeport, California. I was actually out on top of a mountain to catch the Lyrid meteor shower later that night, but a cloud was forming at sunset so I decided to shoot a time-lapse video of it. About 20 minutes after sunset the lightning started, so I added a second camera and kept shooting with both until the lightning tapered off, well into the night.
Be very careful when shooting lightning, since it can strike the ground up to 20 miles form its source. Viewing storms from space it has become apparent that they can be electrically connected across hundreds of miles!
Lightning Strikes!
Google+: Reshared 35 times
Google+: View post on Google+
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booooooooo
beautiful
Wow! Very cool capture.
Nice
Very nice!
I'd love to get to east side for monsoon this year.
+Jeff Sullivan , I admire your wish to fully disclose, but don't find fault for not doing so. I think disingenuous is probably a little to harsh though.
Thanks for the feedback +Paul Porter. I didn't say simply reposting (although it can get a little boring or even annoying to see the same image 4, 5, 10 times). Presenting them the umpteenth time as if they were new... my understanding of the meaning of the word "disingenuous" is that the act described that way often involves not disclosing the full background behind the situation, and in that context "a little disingenuous" seemed like an even softer way to describe an act of deliberate omission.
Of course presenting something as new to G+ (which actually isn't) can happen by accident as well. I have so many pictures on here now and they can't be sorted into multiple thematic groups/albums, so if I create a "weather" album, it can take me a while to check whether or not I've already uploaded a particular photo to G+. (Then again, I could simply upload whatever I want and in a few words state there may be some duplicates.)
Oh well, it's a useful question perhaps in an environment which is relatively new. Each site has its own practices, both stated rules, and common but unstated ones.
Nice!! Nothing like the Eastside.
Magnifique