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Summer Thunderstorm Over Diablo Range

Posted by
Don Smith (California, United States) on 2 July 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

A summer thunderstorm rolled through San Benito County, California, on a hot muggy June day producing some impressive lightning strikes and allowing me to play with a specialty Lightning Trigger which I had owned for a year but had never gotten the opportunity to use. The device attaches to my camera's hot shoe and plugs into the camera's remote sync terminal. It is the only device to my knowledge that allows a photographer to capture lightning in the daytime. I made this image at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon! According to the device's instruction sheet, the Lightning Trigger will respond to intracloud (heat) lightning as well as stroke lightning. In addition, since lightning will occur over a wide expanse of the sky, the Lightning Trigger will also detect omni-directional flashes. It further explains that lightning is not a singular event; a flash is comprised of multiple strokes spaced approximately 40 milliseconds apart and occurring up to several hundred milliseconds in duration. The Lightning Trigger is manufactured by Stepping Stone Products, LLC in Delores, Colorado. You can visit their website at Lightning Trigger.Com. My success rate was about 50%. Much of it has to do with luck in guessing where to frame. I tracked this cell as it moved from the Santa Cruz Mountains east towards the Diablo Mountains. This location is about a 10 minute drive from my where I live in the southern Santa Clara Valley (a coastal valley where occurrences like this are rare). I used a Singh-Ray 8-stop variable neutral density filter set at -4 to keep the ambient light from overexposing as a 1/4 second shutter is recommended. I owe much of the success of this image to my wife Beri, and my two sons Rob and Aaron. They were out on a drive when they spotted the strikes and called me! The downside of this storm was that this dry lightning helped ignite over 1200 wildfires across central and northern California. To see more of my images, please visit my website at Don Smith Photography
You can also read an article about the Lightning Trigger which appears on my website by clicking here: Capturing Lightning During the Day!

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III 1/4 second F/14.0 ISO 50 43 mm

My Website: "how to" articles, 2020 WORKSHOP LISTINGS, galleries, stock photos, and more...
www.donsmithphotography.com

Evi from Athens, Greece

Exquisite!

2 Jul 2008 8:04am

Denis P from Bretagne, France

Magnifique

2 Jul 2008 9:23am

Helma from Tehran, Iran

Unique image !!! lovely color mode .. another excellent work !
thank you , Don !

2 Jul 2008 10:51am

Eleftheria! from Athens, Greece

wow!

2 Jul 2008 11:24am

Don Smith from California, United States

Good morning Evi, Denis, Helma and Eleftherial,

Thanks. I know lightning storms are dangerous, but I have to admit, it was a rush chasing this storm! Evi and Eleftherial, are you sisters or mother/daughter? Again, your dad's website is wonderful! His images reveal a special play of light and shadow. I'm very impressed!

2 Jul 2008 1:58pm

Stefan from Thiersee, Austria

Wow, exellent shot, splendit!

2 Jul 2008 2:44pm

Hamid.R from Tehran, Iran

Wow.wonderful shot.

2 Jul 2008 4:14pm

Observing from Local, United Kingdom

This shot is amazing, its color, the wide vista, and the lighting are all great.

2 Jul 2008 4:31pm

shahab from Qazvin, Iran

Excellent catch!It was a real thunderstorm!Great job!

2 Jul 2008 4:45pm

dj.tigersprout from San Bruno, United States

simply stunning shot don! amazing lighting, textures, lightning bolt (!), and colors here... and beautiful ambience and scenery make this is a winning shot! bravo!

2 Jul 2008 7:01pm

Evi from Athens, Greece

Hi i am Evi and i am the mother of Eleftheria and i use my husband's (Nikos Laskaridis) link, here in am3! Resolved now? :-)

2 Jul 2008 7:02pm

david from Thiersee, Austria

Wonderful image of an thunderstorm. Breathtaking Lightning! Bravo. Greetings from Austria

2 Jul 2008 7:43pm

Marion from Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Oh Don, this is such a gorgeous shot. Stunning.

2 Jul 2008 11:17pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Hello Stefan, Hamid, Observing, shahab, dj, Evi david and Marion,

Thanks for you nice comments. Evi - I've put it all together. You have quite a talented family! I have two boys (age 12 and 13) but neither seem too interested in photography. Both really like music (piano and guitar).

3 Jul 2008 12:30am

DarkElf from Perth, Australia

wow! superb shot this one... the overall feeling of drama is great and the band of clouds and the lightning are simply brilliant.!

3 Jul 2008 3:52am

Daniel from Kenmare, United States

pretty wicked.

3 Jul 2008 4:42am

Don Smith from California, United States

Good Morning Dark Elf and Daniel,

Thanks for the kind words!

3 Jul 2008 1:30pm

Marie Le Corre from France

I'm very happy to see this shot. Colours are absolutely splendids and composition perfect.

3 Jul 2008 3:59pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Thank you Marie,

It is always nice to hear from you.

3 Jul 2008 4:16pm

MJ from Delaware, United States

great capture... the device was worth it...as far as I am concerned... great

3 Jul 2008 4:50pm

paulski from Muncie, IN, United States

beautiful image here. wow!

3 Jul 2008 5:41pm

pedro alexandre from loures, Portugal

eheheh! hey don nice one!!, you realy caught that moment perfecty, dramatic sky, tones, and that thunder completed the scene, keep up the good work and gongrats on the aminus spotlight.

3 Jul 2008 7:03pm

eddy from tehran, Iran

excellent Don! no word to say! just very beautiful

3 Jul 2008 8:52pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Thanks MJ, paulski, pedro and eddy. I appreciate your comments! Pedro, a special thanks to you for your mention of my work on your latest post which by the way is incredible! I left you a note regarding the image on your blog. - Don

3 Jul 2008 9:04pm

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

Cool shot, very nice rays of light.

3 Jul 2008 9:29pm

Julie McLeod from Ottawa, Canada

I think that would be a wonderful image even without the lightning! But, overall, superb!
Thanks for the thorough explanation of how you captured it...

3 Jul 2008 10:03pm

akarui from Kagoshima, Japan

Great picture and atmosphere.

4 Jul 2008 2:04am

Fliss from Melbourne Beach, United States

Excellent shot... only twice I have managed to capture lightening.. it was brilliant... as for this 'contraption' that you were talking about - ummmm... I think I need one of those... once again... great shot... take care...

4 Jul 2008 2:36am

MOHAMMAD from BANDAR ABBAS, Iran

great capture

4 Jul 2008 1:31pm

Don Smith from California, United States

Ana, Julie, Fliss and Mohammad, thank you for your kind words!

4 Jul 2008 2:00pm

Daryl from Amagasaki, Japan

Really is an amazing bit of work...

8 Jul 2008 2:25pm

greg from Denver, United States

very nice stuff...

12 Jul 2008 2:01pm

L'angevine from Angers, France

bravo pour cette éclair et aussi couleurs

15 Jul 2013 6:04am