Mothership

Not my usual style, especially not in this skaiku theme.  Maybe I'll eventually move it elsewhere.  I was testing a new homebrewed body cap pinhole on my D2H on a sunset that fizzled and was dull.  Then I turned around to trudge home and noticed this single massive thunderhead to the east that had begun as a classic cumulonimbus incus flat head anvil cloud.  By the time I walked home, swapped lenses and moved to a clear location a rounded head had swelled the top.  Unfortunately the only lens I had handy was an 85mm f/2 AIS Nikkor prime.  I couldn't find a location that was both clear of obstructions and also encompassed the entire formation.

The formation moved fairly steadily eastward and was far enough away that no thunder could be heard.  It must have been huge because it seemed close enough for thunder to be audible.  But I heard nary a rumble.

I'm not experienced at photographing lightning so I just guesstimated an aperture bright enough for the flashes to show and a shutter speed long enough to improve my luck.  Out of a dozen or more exposures this was the only one with a distinct lightning pattern.

There was a large military or weather reconnaissance aircraft circling the area too but I couldn't catch both the aircraft light trails and lightning in the same photo.  I might try a composite later.

Over a matter of minutes a classic flat-head cumulonimbus incus anvil cloud

developed into a supercell, east of Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas, March 27, 2014.

It looked closer than it was but no thunder was audible, so it must have been

huge and much farther away than it appeared. Looked impressive from a

distance but little or no damage was reported.

This is a really good shot, Lex.  I know that you wish that it was shot from another place, but it really is impressive as is.

--Lannie

Thanks, Lannie, I'm fortunate to have snagged this photo, at around 7:11 pm.  A few minutes earlier I'd been across the street in a vacant field, my back to the storm, unaware of the changing conditions.  I'll try to attach a chronological sequence of photos.

Around 6:55 pm, I began to return home and noticed a distant anvil cloud toward the northeast, moving fairly quickly.  The tripod mounted dSLR was fitted with a pinhole and I didn't have another lens handy.  I snapped a photo with a P&S:

*http://gallery.photo.net/photo/17722430-md.jpg

I also took a photo with the pinhole on the D2H.  Not very happy with this pinhole - needs work:

*http://gallery.photo.net/photo/17722435-md.jpg

I hustled home to swap the pinhole for the only other lens I had handy, the 85/2 AIS Nikkor - not ideal but I didn't want to waste time digging through the closet.

By 7:15 pm, only four minutes after the lightning photo, the supercell conditions were fading and the anvil cloud formation was returning, minus the dome.  Still lots of lightning but I wasn't able to catch another clear photo:

*http://gallery.photo.net/photo/17722434-md.jpg

A couple of neighborhood kids saw me with the camera and tripod and walked over to chat.  They watched the storm for awhile too.  Wish I'd been better prepared - the photos of the kids were more interesting:

*http://gallery.photo.net/photo/17720620-md.jpg

By 7:37 pm, the formation was much more distant toward the east and, according to some Dallas area storm spotters and photographers, had regained some strength and provided dramatic photos.  A large military or weather plane with radar dome was circling our area (a military reserve air base is nearby).  I hoped to catch the plane's light trails and a lightning strike, but no luck.  Some lens flare ghosting is also visible here - I was aiming only slightly above some very bright streetlamps.

*http://gallery.photo.net/photo/17722433-md.jpg

This is quite a good shot, and I like it.  No need to apologize for equipment, location, or the quality of the result.  There's nothing wrong with a Nikkor 85mm f/2 AiS -- while not among the most complex, expensive, or "professional" lenses marketed by Nikon, it was a decent and perfectly serviceable lens capable of delivering solid results (as your photograph illustrates convincingly).   It was also the right focal length to capture most of the cu-nim you chose to photograph, including the spreading anvil top which results when air made buoyant by temperature and pressure differential final attains an altitude of equilibrium, at which point it can no longer go upwards and, as displaced by more rising air, can only move sideways.  Had you been able to reach a point from which you could shoot between the strands of the barbed-wire fence rather than including one of those strands in the image area, that might have been advantageous; but as I was not there and do not know what physical constraints were posed by the location from which you were shooting, it would be unfair for me to criticize the image on that account.  It appears that, when confronted with a relatively brief phenomenon and working with what may not have been your favorite equipment, you managed to capture a striking image of a powerful late-day thunderstorm.  That was an accomplishment, and the image you now offer us is evocative of its size and power.  It's a very good photo, and there should be justifiable pride for you in having taken it.

Thanks, Peter, much appreciated.  There was only one spot in the backyard, on a small knoll, that offered a relatively clear view between the barbed wire atop the fence and the overhead utility lines.  I tried to move back a bit to encompass the full width of the cloud, but didn't like the overall vantage point.  I'm pretty satisfied, especially considering I was trying to dredge up from memory the recommended exposure for this sort of thing!  And the peak lasted only a few minutes.

The 85/2 AIS Nikkor is a gem - I like it about as well as the 105/2.5 AI Nikkor.  It was actually in my Nikon V1 bag with the Fotodiox adapter attached.  It's a handy size, weight, and equivalent focal length for the V1's 2.7x factor, roughly like a 230mm f/2 in a compact package.  Fits neatly in my little Lowepro Off Trail waist bag accessory pouch.  But I knew that would be way too much lens for this situation, so I swapped the 85/2 over to the D2H, which was already on a tripod.

And I got a kick out of the kids at the fence.  They asked me for the trick to guesstimating distance, and I told them the old 1 second per mile approximation - which was wrong!  I'd forgotten the divide by 5 part of the estimation.  No matter - it was so far away we never heard any thunder.