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Lightning Behind Santa Barbara Harbor

A rare lightning storm over Santa Barbara, California

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Peter Olexa 1 year ago

Great photo :) I like it
Carried in Cruzine: http://www.cruzine.com/2011/01/11/photography-light/

holger droste 2 years ago

incredible Atmosphere , compliment !

m salim bhayangkara 2 years ago

great momment...nice shot....

Slavomir M. 2 years ago

nice

Willy Marthinussen 2 years ago

well done! its a truly great moment captured in a very good way. These are always fun to make :) and you have got this right in time. Love it!
All the best --willy--

Sven Fennema 2 years ago

The colors are very impressive!

Razorbelly 2 years ago

I like it.

Radiga 2 years ago

*****
46 marvelous seconds! Congrats

Peter Svoboda 2 years ago

fantastic capture,I can imagine what effort is behind this picture..,congr.

Al Sheihk 2 years ago

very beautiful.

David Orias Thank you.

Ralf Stelander 2 years ago

Cool and well done! I read your reply to John and actually it would be very cool if you are up for writing a guide on how you did this in the forum!

David Orias I will try to get something in the forum after work today.

Ben Goossens 2 years ago

Well captured David:-)
Must be not easy to do.

David Orias Thanks Ben. Actually, once I figured out that the F stop was the most important aspect for proper exposure of the lightning, it was just a matter of leaving the bulb setting on long enough to expose the harbor. I have a few shots where the aperture was too open and the lightning blew out the scene. I was lucky that I predicted where the lightning might strike. The thundercloud was moving east to west so I kind of guessed where to point the camera and tried to make the best composition with the harbor.

FrankBa 2 years ago

Excellent capture
love the way you have balance the ambiant light and the lightning
Great catch for sure !!!!

David Orias Thank you Frank

John Parminter 2 years ago

A great lightning shot David, the purple tones so much associated with such shots is brill.

May I ask if the tones were as seen or does the camera just interpret these colours due to the lightning, which WB setting and can I ask what shutter speed you used.

I've not had the chance to photograph lightning before.
John

David Orias Thanks. It was shot on a day white balance with a temperature of 5414K, but I did go a little more tungsten with the final white balance of 4393 K. The exposure time was 46 seconds. I don't actually get much opportunity to shoot lightning here as it happens maybe twice a year. I figured out that at f/16, the lightning was bright enough to get a good exposure and I ended up leaving it on bulb setting to allow the ambient light to expose the harbor appropriately. This gave me more time to hopefully get the lightning.

John Parminter Cheers David, useful info. Oddly the water looks shot at a much faster shutter speed instead of being smoothed out at such a long shutter speed.

:)
JP

David Orias The lightning flash acts as a strobe to freeze the water

John Parminter That explains everything David, cheers.
JP

Dmitry Laudin 2 years ago

congratulation

David Orias Thank you Dimitry

ablok 2 years ago

I like this lightning,spectacular!! And very good place!
+++

David Orias Thanks ablok

RICHARD20D 2 years ago

Very well taken and the sky has produced some brilliant warm colours. I should imagine it was a nice place to be at the time of the storm.

Regards Richard

David Orias Yes the lightning was many miles away and not raining s it was pretty nice. Thanks Richard

paralaxa 2 years ago

Fantastic long-expo shot. Great colors!

David Orias Thanks

Luc Van Sever 2 years ago

David
great

David Orias Thank you Luc.

Tonny Liautanto 2 years ago

SPEECHLESSLY...very nice

David Orias Thanks Tonny

WmV 2 years ago

Serge
How did you know it was a 46 exposure? Is there a way to access metadata that I may not know of when studying published images? Access to metadata on all published work would be very helpful as another tool in learning.

Serge Sh You need to turn this option "ON": "Account" -> "Preferences" -> "Options" -> "Show EXIF-data in the infobox below photos." -> "Save"

WmV Thanks - so very cool! Makes me wonder how many other obvious things I'm unaware of!!

David Orias If you look at exposure time 46/1 means 46 seconds.

Serge Sh 2 years ago

I wonder how you achieved to show texture of the water with 46 second exposure?

David Orias The lightning acts a a big flash which freezes the texture on the water due to the short duration of the lightning.

Serge Sh Thanks! I thought you did some kind of composite. How many lightnings there was?

David Orias Just one bolt that split into 4 or 5 fragments.

mathieu capdeville 2 years ago

wonderful moment, congratulation

David Orias Thanks Mathieu

Risquillo 2 years ago

Magnífica David.... FELICIDADES!

David Orias Thank you Risquillo

tchebytchev 2 years ago

veryveryniceindeed !
great light :)

David Orias Thanks

Dean Gustafson 2 years ago

Great shot, David. I assume this was from the storms last week. I love the inviting warmth of the boats and lights in the harbor, and the stark contrast of the lightning. Nice to see pictures of my old stomping grounds. Congrats again on a beautiful image.

Dean

David Orias Thanks. As you are aware, lightning is a rather uncommon event here in Santa Barbara and especially in October. It ran in the Santa Barbara Newspress.

Dean Gustafson I'm not surprised - it's an excellent shot. Lightning is a rarity in So. Cal - Congrats again!

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