A thunderstorm approaching Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

The photo is amazing and it has been a good choice. Thanks !

 

I would really like to know what is a "Tachihara 4x5 wood field camera", could you please submit a link to a place where this is described ?

totally awesome photo....wish I had been there to experience the raw power of nature. Brave to do it in black and white.....7/7

I visited Kalgoorlie when I lived in Australia as a child -- it certainly didn't look like that! :) Well done!

Wow... everytime I feel either (1) that I can hold my own with the best of them, or (2) there is nothing else to strive for, I see an image like this, which reminds me just how much more I have to learn and experience. Can this image be improved? I truly don't know... but I do know that anything I did to it would probably detract from it. As I continue to look at it, I see so many new things.

 

When I woke up this morning, I was feeling down, for a number of reasons. Having seen this, I actually feel refreshed and ready to go.

 

Of course, this also means I am agonizing: large format, or Canon EOS-20D? Decisions, decisions...

 

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Spectacular picture, no doubt. I'm not too enthusiastic about the fairly huge black foreground and would have prefered a slightly more topish view on the city, and less black, but I'm unsure whether the circumstances would allow something like that... Anyway, a very good catch for sure... Regards.

First of all, it is a great image -- charged, vibrant, extensive.. I think the exposure is right for the lightning and the sky. However it was naturally overdone for the ground lights. While they would be nice dimmer, I think that is out of question and does not take away anything significant. I like the wide approach and the crop of the sheetfilm was done very nicely. The only improvement I can think of is to get the black part in the bottom out of the way. Removing it at this point would hurt the photo's integrity by cropping the left and right portions of the cityscape. So if the photographer could have taken an alternative shot by moving forward a bit - that could have been an improvement to an already beautiful shot.

Im amazed at this amazing pow because it is amazing with the lightning coming from the clouds in the sky. There have been other lightning picutres in the POW before this one today so I guess the elves like lightning pictures. I cant think of a better picture for the pow except maybe a skull. Have any skulls ever been pow? maybe its time.

I think I'm like a few others who have responded in that, initially, I didn't like the dark foreground-- but the more i looked at it and tried to mentally crop or reframe the shot, I realize that the curve gives a profound sense of scale. I think that the smoothness and bredth of the cruve allude the curvature of the earth seen in photographs taken from low orbit or from the cockpit of an SR-71. Removiing it would mentally, if not literally, limit the percieved scope... I hate to call it an illusion, but I do think it's a mind trick that works very well.

 

Love this shot.

Bravo! Patience and vision have come together for a masterpiece. Thank you for sharing.

Just beautiful. I love lightning pictures, and this panarama is a brilliant example of one.

Thanks for sharing!

The black base is important. It adds the contrast that makes it so dramatic. A city-scaped base would have weakened it by making all of the tones too similar.

 

Top should be cropped a dash to keep the eye in, which would also get the place where the strikes emanate from more in the top thirds. The final place the eye goes out is up there (escapes), and that would keep it in quite a bit longer. May show the crop later.

 

Great photo, congrats. MS

Well, cropping a dash off the top would no so much move it into the thirds, as it's just below it or in it now, but it would make it much more balanced. That's very important.

Like Dave Barstow I'm not a fan of long exposures but this shot is different from others. In my opinion is the crop work that makes this picture a very good picture.

Superb image by all standard.As suggested above, slight cropping from top and bottom, may be tried to better the image.

This image is amazing. I might add a little negative space on top to give it a natural framing and contain the whole. I agree with Michael above that the black foreground is really, really needed here.

 

I am blown away, this is just great. Bravo.

Like others, I'm not a fan of extremely long lightning exposures. Imagine the level of

detail that could be had using large format film to capture a single lightning strike! That

would be more interesting to me. Framing a single strike against the interesting structure

(crane?) on the right, for example, could provide a nice balanced composition, very

detailed branching in the strike, and a nice contrast between the very structured and

geometric shapes of the man-made object and the more random shapes of the lightning

strike.

 

I also think the foreground hill takes up a little too much of the frame and is a bit too

symmetrical, given its dome shape. Since we have the advantage of an overlook of the city

(a rare opportunity for lightning photography, at least in areas I'm usually at), it'd be great

to take more advantage of it, and move closer to the crest of the hill. some is surely

needed to "ground" the photo (not in the electrical sense ;) ), but as is it seems a bit much.

 

But all of that makes it sound as if I didn't enjoy the photo. To the contrary, it's excellent.

And, given the cost of glass, film, and processing for large format, combined with the high

failure rate of lightning with longer lenses and shorter exposures (to isolate a single strike

in frame), I don't know that I'd be willing to take the risk of the approach I prescribe.

 

At any rate, it's really great to see a lightning photo make photo of the week!

"could it have been improved?"

 

Not likely. It's pretty much perfect... beautiful, dramatic, and well composed. A+

I don't know, Graeme, standing out on a hill during a lightning storm--I hope you were using a Berlebach or a Ries. photo.net could be liable for encouraging this kind of behavior.

 

Don't try this at home, boys and girls. Graeme is a professional.

Pretty impressive. Actually, it's very impressive, but it doesn't give us much to talk about. Less foreground black would work for me, too.

Given the format, I think we can assume that Graeme has plenty of extra room to work with top and bottom and that he took great care in deciding what to get rid of.

 

The exit points from the clouds are - what shall we say - really cool.

Thankyou to the Elves for once again selecting one of my shots as photo of the week - it's a real honour to be awarded PoW for this shot.

 

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the hill in the foreground. To me, it's a very important part of the image, since it forms the anchor for the whole scene. Without it, the image is top-heavy and unbalanced. Perhaps I could have cropped a little off the bottom of it, but that was my choice at the time of cropping and I stand by that. I think it has the correct "weight" to balance out the fury of the lightning behind it.

 

There have been a few mentions of "moving closer to the crest" of the foreground hill: that can't be done. This shot was made from the top of one hill overlooking the foreground hill - moving closer puts me into the valley and the city lights won't be visible. It is also impossible to shoot from that hill itself, since it is private property and fenced off by the mining company that owns it. They will not give permission to drive to the top of it because it is being rehabilitated.

 

David, no, my tripod is metal. If the storm were close enough that I might be in danger, I'd get back in my car and drive away. No shot is worth dying for - even one that might eventually win PoW!

 

The Elves asked "Could it have been improved?". As some of you know, I own my own gallery where the general public can buy my work. When presented with a choice between this shot or the toned version of it, 99% select the colour version. So, in the eyes of the public, this shot can be improved by adding colour to the scene. I know that irks many photographers (such as you reading this now) but money talks. Incidentally, I also prefer the colour version myself - it's like the Gates of Hell have opened and an army of demons is marching on the town.

 

Cheers,

the fact that this picture was captured is impressive - I've tried a few lightening shots myself, but never had much success. regardless of what I think about the photo, I think the picture is an accomplishment and testament to the skill of the photographer.

 

as for the picture, I'm not a big fan. it draws me back to view it. but I leave it every single time feeling empty and unmoved. I guess with such an impressive show of power and energy in the lightening and clouds, it amplifies the feeling of the picture being somehow static - nothing is happening in the picture down below in the city. the city lights are a heterogenous mix sometimes overblown, far, close, etc etc, I can't sense the size or the proximity of the streaks through the sky. they feel detached, far away, uninvolved, even though they are the main subject of the photo. I wish I was standing at the top of that black hill, the city in the foreground, spread out on the plain below with the lightening crashing into the ground. aesthetically, I like pitch black background sky, intensifying the effect of the lightening. actually, trying it out (darkening the entire picture), it makes the picture more centered. eh, I don't know. I keep on looking at it, hoping for something to grab me, but it never does. though I really do like it better with a black backdrop sky behind the lightening.

I know one thing for sure -- this can't be improved, because nature can't be improved. Well, except with plastic surgery, but that's another story :-)

 

I like the lightness of the sky and how the lightning is off-balance. If it were evenly balanced, it would not work for me.

 

I am curious though...what elevation was this shot taken at?

Excellet image. I like the darker of the two better. The "background" of the sky isn't as bright and the lights of the city aren't as bright. In the brighter image those elements distract (slightly). But who am I to criticize - it's a great shot! Congratulations.

Laura asked: I am curious though...what elevation was this shot taken at?

Kalgoorlie's elevation is about 400m above sea level and is 400km from the nearest ocean. The landscape is an old one with very little local relief. The hill I'm standing on for this shot is about 50m higher than the surrounding area and the distant horizon in this shot is about 30km away.

Cheers,

Graeme