25/10/05 Lightening in Coombell (The sequel)

Actually I was in Myrtle Creek a couple of kms up the road at a mates place.

We had another cracker light show last night. These images are from two
seperate storm cells.

Canon Powershot A85 exposure times were betweem 4-10 seconds, ISO 50

Processing, Levels, selective sharpening through a Hi Pass filter mask to
highlight the lightening bolts.

The single lightening bolt to the deck was a lil harder as you can see there
is alot of mist about being lit up by the lighting bolt itself. Another layer was
added using multiply to cut out considerble glare in the surrounding mist.

regards,CS

[h0ughy (David)]

thunder struct mate! they are tops. You get all the good storms, i am jealous

[fringe_dweller]

wow do you live near a mad scientists castle or something! absolutely magnificent! The NT storm season is coming up Houghy - thats where all the serious storm chasers go

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Actually if it was me I'd be heading for SE QLD, the Hunter or the wheat belt in WA or inland SA for the severe Supercells and possible tornadoes. Darwin is good for Lightning but the Kimberlies is the best place to be for lightning awesome displays from there with the advantage of beautiful scenery. Or you can sit and wait till they come to you

[fringe_dweller]

I dont mean to put down storms here at home or anywhere else- but for sheer frequency of occurance wouldnt Darwin win? and i was thinking of lightning mostly

Thanks Houghy!

Where I live I get to see a good percentage of the storms being born from what
seems like nothing, that go on to hit SE QLD. They tend to sit just to the SE & W
of me on the range and bubble and boil before heading off. You can literally watch them
explode upward. This is the time of year here for massive storm cells. The storms last night
were no exception I counted 5. The first three images are of one to the SW, the
fouth is one that was to the west that came right over top, that image is of it
moving off to the east. The last image is from the cell to the north, plus two other
cell way off to the SE and NE. It was like walking the red carpet and the paparazzi
going mad. All I had to do was point the camera at a cell and keep rolling off
exposures I was bound to get something sooner or later, still I missed alot more
than I got... need another camera to work in tandem lol

regards,CS

Originally Posted by fringe_dweller

I dont mean to put down storms here at home or anywhere else- but for sheer frequency of occurance wouldnt Darwin win? and i was thinking of lightning mostly

Hey Kearn,

You are probably right. The thing I see that seems to kick these storms off
is heat, interior heat coming in from the west over the range, where it meets
the cooler air of the coast, I loved it!!! they take on a life of their own

three cheers fer storms

regards,CS

PS: thanks for your comments

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

In regards to lightning darwin or the top end of NT gets about the same amount of lightning per year as the Kimberlies. It's just the ones in the Kimberlies are more photogenic. Oh and our storms here in SA are better because we can remember them as significant events in time, and also the more intense lightning storms have high bases and little rain which is perfect for lightning photography. We call them electrical dryees, or dry electrical storms.

I like #4 in the last series, really shows up the mist/rain well. The bolt is slightly over exposed, but mostly from refraction of light through the mist, but the camera did a great job in handling it. Some cameras you need to close the apature closed right off to get a clean strike, but doing so you lose forground. Well done.

naaaarrr you guy's got it all wrong the best storm action is here just below
the range in northern NSW : )

Why? you say.... because they come to you and at this time of year they are almost
a nightly occurrance.

Astroman, no rain just mist in image four. The rain had stopped about 20 minites prior.
The mist comes from the still warm earth and surrounding greenery and it can be a real
pain in the behind at times. Not all thunder and lighting here is accompanied by rain. If
it does it seems to hang either at the front or follows on behind. Still it made for an
interesting image, you should see the original for over exposure... not sure how I could
of toned it down at capture and still get what I got.

Thanks for looking and feedback guy's

regards,CS