07/23/12 Featured Arkansas Photography–Lightening Strike over Pinnacle Mountian in Pulaski County Arkansas

Lightening strike over Pinnacle Mountain in Pulaski County Arkansas

Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 Lens at 24mm, F2.8, Bulb exposure, tripod mounted camera. This image will be added to my favorites, mainly because of just how hard it was to take.  I had been photographing the sunset from the other side of Pinnacle mountain when this storm started to blow in.  The early lightening drove me off and I headed around to the west side hoping to get a shot of lightening over the mountain.  By the time I made it over, the rain was starting to fall and lightening was flying all through the air.  At first I thought I could stand outside my car, with my tripod and take the shot, but soon I started to notice my arm hairs standing up so I choose to move back to my car.  I put the tripod outside the car window and then setup my remote release so that I could hit the shutter when I first started to see lightening out of the corner of my eye.  I just set the lens to infinity and F2.8 hoping to get the most light as possible.  I captured this shot on the 3rd attempt.  What amazed me was the different colors of blues that were in the sky as the lightening went off.  The orange color off to the left of the image I didn’t notice until I looked at the shot.