Grand Monsoon

[CarpeyBiggs]

From our scouting trip this weekend... Crazy monsoon action resulted in a wild electrical storm at the Grand Canyon. Composite of about 25 minutes of lightning - August 28, 2011.

[Eric Holden]

Beautiful!

[stefan]

epic photo :hail2thechief:

[ghawk]

sick :2thumbs: :hail2thechief:

[accadacca]

Yep! :hail2thechief:

[jdgibney]

From our scouting trip this weekend... Crazy monsoon action resulted in a wild electrical storm at the Grand Canyon. Composite of about 25 minutes of lightning - August 28, 2011.

Wow, just.... wow!

[Canyonbug]

Wicked!! Way cool!:hail2thechief::hail2thechief::hail2thechief:

[jiffers]

what more can be said, than WOW! It sure has been a crazy year for electrical storms around this area. I don't remember seeing this much lightning in YEARS

[goofball]

that is the coolest photo ever.

[Skylinerider]

That is an amazing photo:hail2thechief:

Would you mind sharing Exif data?

[Deadeye008]

Nice:2thumbs:

[Jaxx]

WOW! That is an awesome photo. Nat. Geographic worthy.

It would be scary to be over near it though :eek2:

[nelsonccc]

As usual Dan, simply amazing.

[CarpeyBiggs]

That is an amazing photo:hail2thechief:

Would you mind sharing Exif data?

the base exposure is on a canon 5d, sigma 20 1.8 lens, f4.0, 10", iso 100. the rest are bulb exposures, and i released the trigger after every strike, then composited in post.

[CarpeyBiggs]

WOW! That is an awesome photo. Nat. Geographic worthy.

It would be scary to be over near it though :eek2:

yep. it hit us about 90 minutes later. 45 mph winds, monsoon rains, and lightning strikes all around for most of the night. i couldn't sleep, i was fearful the mid would tear apart. pretty wild.

[Pelon1]

When is your next camera clinic in southern Utah? I would like to get registered. :2thumbs:

[qedcook]

WOW!!! :hail2thechief::hail2thechief::hail2thechief:

[deagol]

Awesome photo

[spinesnaper]

That image will make an amazing duratrans.:hail2thechief::hail2thechief:

[Skylinerider]

the base exposure is on a canon 5d, sigma 20 1.8 lens, f4.0, 10", iso 100. the rest are bulb exposures, and i released the trigger after every strike, then composited in post.

Thank you so much. I've been trying for a while to capture decent lightning shots.

[gloo]

HOLY hell that is amazing!!:hail2thechief: I watched something similar to this from the zion narrows over the weekend, but I didn't get any shots due to lack of visibility and the rain

[bigred72]

SICK!!!

[homerj]

WOW! That is an awesome photo. Nat. Geographic worthy.

X2!

That is wicked cool!

[powderglut]

Masterpiece!!!

[canyonphile]

Wow!!! That is simply amazing! Excellent job :cheers:, and ditto thanks on sharing the technique with us; Lighting captures are on my "to do" list, but I wasn't sure about the best way to get them.

Where is this, exactly? Based on the Esplanade bench, I know it's on the far west side of the Canyon...north rim, I presume? It looks to be west of Crazy Jug.

[Dr. Nebz]

Amazing shots! :2thumbs:

HDR? Image Overlay? What was the post process you used on this? The dark colors make the strikes look awesome! :hail2thechief:

[CarpeyBiggs]

Wow!!! That is simply amazing! Excellent job :cheers:, and ditto thanks on sharing the technique with us; Lighting captures are on my "to do" list, but I wasn't sure about the best way to get them.

Where is this, exactly? Based on the Esplanade bench, I know it's on the far west side of the Canyon...north rim, I presume? It looks to be west of Crazy Jug.

I can't disclose ALL my secrets now can I? It is on the North Rim, looking south, towards Flat Iron Butte...

And for those curious in how the composite was made, this is a response I sent to another photographer. Obviously, some people don't think composites represent "reality." I hope no one is fooled into thinking this is a single moment in time captured by one single exposure. It's not. Here's the process -

Hi Jim,

I imagine this won't be the first question I get on how this image was created. I won't attempt to offer much justification as to whether it is "real" or not. However, I would never represent the image as a single exposure, as it is a composite, and where I've published it, I've been sure to say as much.

That said, it is possible this image could've been done with a single piece of film, but it would've been difficult. It would require double exposing a single frame. One exposure in the waning moments of twilight to get the canyon detail, and then a longer exposure once the sky is sufficiently black to not blur the clouds while the lightning strikes. My digital technique was much more simple.

The image is actually part of a time lapse I am shooting for a documentary project in the Grand Canyon. So this particular camera (5D, 20mm 1.8 sigma lens) was locked down on a tripod shooting this exact same scene for perhaps 2 hours, on 10 second intervals, starting before sunset and continuing until the lightning chased us off the rim. We could see the lightning striking well before it got dark with our naked eyes, but only caught a couple of frames of it, until our exposure times lengthened to multiple seconds.

As the sun set, the exposure time lengthened on the camera, and we got more strikes. The base exposure was (off the top of my head) ISO 100, f4, 10". Then, the camera continued shooting at up to 10 second exposures, but once it got dark enough the exposure was simply black, with lightning bolts, i switched to bulb exposures, releasing the shutter after every strike.

The final image is the base exposure, with the frames of just bolts (the rest black) composited in photoshop using the lighten mode. The composite is made in sequence, and the locations of the strikes are exactly as captured.

Whether or not this constitutes "acceptability" is up to the viewers to decide. It is certainly a composite, but one for me that accurately portrays approximately 25 minutes of lightning in a single image.

- Dan

[CarpeyBiggs]

When is your next camera clinic in southern Utah? I would like to get registered. :2thumbs:

hahaha. maybe the october bogleyfest we can play around a bit? plenty of good stuff to photograph around there.

[spinesnaper]

Sigh...Digital is better than film. Maybe its time for me to sell the toyo. Perhaps I can get a canon 5D mark II to replace my first generation 5D. That is way more affordable than getting a new lens for the M9. Toys.:nod:

Dan, are prints of this image available for purchase? If so, what do you call it?

Ken

[dmMatrix]

HOLY SHISTERS. That is a sweet photo. Good Job :2thumbs:

[ilipichicuma]

Dan, are prints of this image available for purchase? If so, what do you call it?

I'm also curious about this.

[Win]

Terrific picture, Dan, thanks for the write up on how you did it. Your camera skills always amaze me.

Win

[Brian in SLC]

Wow.

That's all I got...

[moab mark]

I'm also curious about this.

Hey get in line Jenny and I are one and two on the list for a copy.:lol8:

As stated over on Yahoo amazing picture.

[LOAH]

Bravo. :nod:

...And I'm one that likes raw photos without post editing. For this, I don't even care.

Excellent work.:2thumbs:

[spinesnaper]

This image is already the background image on my laptop.

Ken

[oldno7]

Incredible Dan:2thumbs::2thumbs:

[ddavis]

This picture just showed up on Jerry Coyne's blog (biologist, auther of Why Evolution Is True).
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/lighting-show-at-grand-canyon/#comment-136403

Pretty cool.

[Cirrus2000]

This picture just showed up on Jerry Coyne's blog (biologist, auther of Why Evolution Is True).
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/lighting-show-at-grand-canyon/#comment-136403

Pretty cool.
+1 :2thumbs:

While I don't follow Jerry's blog, I am often brought back there by various links. Very cool to see the photo there! Thanks for bringing that, Deb!

[Pelon1]

Just stumbledupon the image here http://www.keepbusy.net/pic.php?id=2550