Lightning Bolts Strike over the Atlantic Ocean Hampton Beach New Hampshire Thunderstorm

Comments and ratings appreciated.

I had to scroll down to see the bottom of the picture and so I noticed that I liked it much better before the cars came into view. I know it's usually good to have some forground for "sky and weather" type shots, but in this case, I think it detracts. Pity about that pole being there. If you're not one that feels photos need to stay pure, it might not be too hard to clone out...

 

The lightening itself is beautiful and I like the nearly mirror image effect. Great job on catching it.

Feels like watching a movie.

Bravo! I like the symmetry with the lamp and i think it's better with the foreground

Great catch. I love the double lightning. Almost a mirror image. Spectacular.

Wish the cars had'nt been in this 1.

At first I didn't like the cars, but then I looked at it again. I think that the cars and lightpole show a contrast both in color and in nature. the yellow of the foreground makes the purple lightning stand out, and manmade things versus nature is a subject that I find interesting. good job on this one.

Wow

Are the ligfhtings original or you have added one with editing?

Wow! Very nice colors.

Hey J., dont believe the hype! The cars look fantastic andmake this shot.

At first I thought it'd be better without them. Then I likedthem- a lot! Then I thoughtmaybe the cars were fake. It almost seems as if they are allat a movie theatre watching the show! The yellow complementsthe purple glow of the electricitiy well. I would only say this:

Crop the image's left side so that the median point betweenthe two main bolts falls within the center of the picture. Thecar on the lef thand side would then be at about the same spotat the white car cropped on the right side, the bolts would fallinto the center, and the symmetry would look great. Fantasticcatch! Great photograph.

Steve
http://www.photo.net/photodb/top-rated-photographer-photos?user_id=425740

Incredible! My only comment would be to move the copyright notice to the bottom and reduce the font size, and maybe make the color closer to that of the frame. Right now, it stands out too much in contrast with the dark image and I think makes it more difficult to enjoy the image.

 

How did you do the metering? Just treated the ground under the light as medium gray (maybe plus a half stop?)

yay! this is a beautiful shot. i like the cars, i like the pole, i like it all. im happy for you! i got a lightning shot and it still makes me happy that i was able to catch it. i definitely like yours better than mine, so.. great job!!

used to live close to hampton beach. this is just an awesome pic.

Can't resist joining the fray about cars :-) Actually I don't think it needs to be a battle between one or the other---both alternatives could have been intriguing---would have been fun if you could have run down to the beach and taken a bunch of shots of just the bolts and the reflections. (Of course you probably won't get the symmetry again :-)

Keep the cars, they help give a reference point to the shot. I would not know how big the ligthing strikes were without the cars in the shot.

-David

p.s. My photo editor (fiancee) says definately keep the shots. The car add a character to the shot and not some everyday lighting strikes in the sky.

Beautiful moment!

From a series of about 20 images taken from the 3rd floor of our hotel at Hampton Beach, NH. This was the best of them and my best lightning photo. No editing was done except unsharp mask. Exposure was about 10 seconds, maybe less. View the large version for the most detail. After viewing my 4000 DPI scan, I noticed a photographer with tripod in the lower right. His assistant covered him with an umbrella. There's also an interesting reflection of the lightning on the roof of the truck at lower right.

Very good work ...lovely.

I very much like this image. The strikes look so close, hopefully,  they were several miles away. I love the contrast of the purples and yellows.

Very nicely done.

Best Regards,

Debra