Swiss Thunderstorm

Trogdor

Don't usually post here, but thought i'd put these up. I'm a bit obsessed with the weather and went storm chasing after this supercell thunderstorm on the Northern coast of lake Geneva on the 19th of July. It was a massive storm, with massive hail too. So naturally i got out my tripod and setup my Nikon D50 right in front of it. Only had about 10 minutes to take the pictures, but i couldn't have asked for anything better, considering it was only my second attempt at photography lightning. They were all taken at f/5 between 8 and 13 second exposures. Here's a selection of the best few












The only picture i over exposed
.
The hail damage for anyone who didn't know what was going on and didn't get shelter

Stephen

Wow. Those are awesome!

Borderfox

great pics, what a catch

soccerc

cracking captures

SuperSean11

lol;) Do you go stormchasing a lot

ThOnda

Awesome. We have just seen previews of the most sold posters in next 15 years!

311

You may aswell have won the Lottery !:)

Deadly shots:)

Ruu_Old

Smashing work there, they look fantastic. Well done and thanks for sharing.

MooseJam

brilliant stuff

Trogdor

SuperSean11 wrote:

lol;) Do you go stormchasing a lot

Not really, as we don't get many proper storms here. Wasn't on a stormchasing holiday, we were over there around France and Switzerland for a month, and me, not being old enough to drive, had to beg my dad that day to go storm chasing that day, as i new there were massive storms around. He was glad he did though the storm was amazing.

ThOnda wrote:

Awesome. We have just seen previews of the most sold posters in next 15 years!

Thanks, out of interest, how do you go about selling posters? Can you just sell them to poster companies and get a commission? That seems to easy. You've given me images of myself rolling in banknotes now:p

Morlar

Those are all excellent - really stunning looking. Just out of curiosity were you taking them as you saw the lightning or taking them just before you expected it to strike ?

SuperSean11

trogdor wrote:

Not really, as we don't get many proper storms here. Wasn't on a stormchasing holiday, we were over there around France and Switzerland for a month, and me, not being old enough to drive, had to beg my dad that day to go storm chasing that day, as i new there were massive storms around. He was glad he did though the storm was amazing.

A real father son bonding experience ehh:D

Trogdor

Morlar wrote:

Those are all excellent - really stunning looking. Just out of curiosity were you taking them as you saw the lightning or taking them just before you expected it to strike ?

I just kept taking continuous 8,10 or 13 second exposures, as i changed position a few times. The lightning was striking every few seconds so i was just waiting for it to happen. There are sensors that you can buy which open the shutter once they detect a stirke but from what i've heard they're not much good and i don't see the point anyway.

BENJAMIN61

SuperSean11 wrote:

A real father son bonding experience ehh:D

thats gift

Trogdor

SuperSean11 wrote:

A real father son bonding experience ehh:D

exactly:D

SuperSean11

trogdor wrote:

exactly:D

I wish my dad would do that with me*sniff*:(

BENJAMIN61

SuperSean11 wrote:

I wish my dad would do that with me*sniff*:(

sean your dad is to lazy

ThOnda

Just google those companies, send them watermarked pictures and wait for offers. I hope you have RAW not cropped pictures!

Trogdor

ThOnda wrote:

Just google those companies, send them watermarked pictures and wait for offers. I hope you have RAW not cropped pictures!

Yup;) , that's really all you have to do to get your pictures sold as posters?

ThOnda

That's the way to begin. One way to begin. And I think that set is really good.

mikeanywhere

Stunning shots, great captures!!

philstar

Fantastic shots, well done.

Some Qs..

1. what make of camera have you?
2. what settings did you use to capture the lightening?
3. how big were the hail stones?

Trogdor

philstar wrote:

Fantastic shots, well done.

Some Qs..

1. what make of camera have you?
2. what settings did you use to capture the lightening?
3. how big were the hail stones?

Well the first two questions are answered in my first post.
Other settings:
ISO:200
White balance:auto.
I don't know exactly how big the hail was, as we got out of there just as i started. I'd say around an inch to 2 inches. We stayed at interlaken a few days later which had had very bad storms on the same day, 2 feet of hail had piled up in the streets. It broke shop windows and damaged nearly every car there. The hail then proceded to melt, which then flooded all of the shops. Not a good day for them:(

Carrigman

Outstanding shots!

Zillah

Very dramatic. I actually love the over exposed one.

nilhg

Saw these on the weather forum, great shots.

Fionn

very very nice captures - i bet it was awesome to experience it there in person.
I had similar experiences in the middle east where they get some fantastic lightening storms

Ciaran500

Any chance of some wallpaper sized version of some of the shots?

BENJAMIN61

Brilliant Shots

Trogdor

Ciaran500 wrote:

Any chance of some wallpaper sized version of some of the shots?

If you don't mind a great big watermark on them;)

mishima

Excellent shots! Sadly we don't get enough lightning around here!

Trogdor

trogdor wrote:

If you don't mind a great big watermark on them;)

Here they are, a normal one.
http://www.brayweather.com/images/wallpapers/wallpaper1.jpg
and the same one with inverted colours, thought it looked cool:p
http://www.brayweather.com/images/wallpapers/wallpaper2.jpg

Oriel

1+

/edit - Whoa! Stop with the effects!
Bring your shots to somebody who knows how to use photoshop, and you're on to a winner.
The noise is a bit of a problem, but you'll be grand.

daedalus2097

Fantastic shots alright!! It's one of my ambitions in life to get a good photograph of lightning, as it was said though we don't get enough in Ireland. All the summer rain and none of the benefits Will have to take the camera on a trip to the continent some time methinks!

Benster

Is it me or does that sequence make it look like the storm is coming straight for you? :-O

Very well done, I love those ones where it goes behind the back of another cloud. I tried this a few times with film, but you waste so many shots as it's hard to predict the strikes. Dgital is made for this sort of thing.

B.

Tarakiwa

Really enjoyed these!

Thanks!

Redisle

Very Nice photos! I had a really nice storm when I was over in spain recently but sadly I had nothing other than a crapy p&s with me