The other side of the storm.

[Tony S]

RxForB3 posted his photos of a thunder storm that rolled through his area, well I'm about 100 miles away and some from the other side.

This first one shows Mt Rainier with the thunder clouds building on the east side of the mountain, but the nice sunset light we had did not make it to the mountain.

I turned around and this was the sunset, that is what gave RxForB3 his colorful skies in his post.

But I knew the thunderstorms were coming, so I got all set up to shoot lightning with the gear I have. I used a set of PocketWizards to trigger my camera in bulb mode. I would hold the shutter open for a count of 6-10 and would then release it. Sometimes I got the mountain lit with lightning, many other times all I got was a dark frame. I missed several good shots while trying to delete the blank shots, next time I need to take all my memory cards with me so I can just keep firing away.... or spend some money on a lightning trigger.
Here's a few of the lightning on Mt Rainier, it was pretty hazy here and the hill I was on sits over the town so there was also alot of light pollution from the street lights invading the shots. To keep the colors from going all orange I had to set my white balance to tungsten. No cropping and only a minimal processing in ACR on these three.

...

 

[RxForB3]

Very nice! That first lightning shot is the winner, I think. I'm very jealous!

 

[Jaemie]

I agree with RxForB3 - #3 is stunning the way the lightning illuminates the mountain! From what area was that shot?

Here in Puyallup it was pretty exciting for about an hour or so. I would have driven out towards Graham and tried a few shots, but I only have a 256MB CF card.

 

[JoshuaSimPhotography]

Wow! must have been a great expeience

 

[Tony S]

Jaemie, the pictures I took were from the hill over Eatonville.

My lightning shots are crap though after seeing what I might have been able to get if I had not been to lazy to drive up into the park and set up near Reflection Lakes. Check out this shot from the storm Sunday night taken up on the mountain...

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!...00558289170.176917.73820069170&type=1&theater

 

[Jaemie]

The photo in that link is quite spectacular. Well, it was getting late by the time the storm got going. I suppose I should prepare for the next storm, now that I know about Reflection Lakes. It's almost 70 miles and 2 hours from Puyallup.

 

[RxForB3]

#$@@$~=£!! That is exactly the kind of shot I've been wanting to get. I figured that by the time I got to the park, it would be done, though. I was probably right, though.

I doubt we'll have another storm like that this year (or ever in Washington, for that matter) and I'll probably be heading back south in a year or two. Storms are better down there, but the scenery is so lacking

 

[Theochristodoulou]

Very impressive!! Beautiful !!!