Driving home from the studio, saw one cloud in the sky right at sunset that was on fire. Had to run back to the studio to get my tripod. What's funny about some of the shots that I got, was that the stars were out all over the sky, except for this one large cloud. Most of the stars are cropped out of the pics.
Thankx for the comments... This was really some weird deal here. Like I had mentioned in the comments. A fantastic night out. Very warm, and brezzy. Stars out every where. Looked as though they were just poured out of a pitcher into the sky.
Then I see this big fellow venting off some steam. I drive like a mad man back to the studio to get my pod. I was probably only there near this over pass for around 1/2 hour and then this guy was gone.
I've tried to get some more lighting shots, however; the rain seems to get to me before I can get the lighting. This night of course was quite different, no rain, no clouds except this fellow.
God, this thing gave me chills when I saw it as a thumbnail. It looked like the result of a nuclear blast. Mother nature is VERY awesome, and sometimes scary, which is exactly what this picture is to me. I love it. :) You definitely caught it well...makes a wonderful nature shot, and even an abstract. If I may make a suggestion, it would only be this: I feel this image would actually have more impact without the ground. I'd crop that out entirely. Though the trees offer a nice basis for a size comparison, I think these clouds speak volumes about their size without any need for such a comparison. :) I would LOVE to get some shots like this around here...we have some of the worst thunderstorms in the world in this part of the country...right next door to Tornado Alley. However, the lightning around here doesn't seem to care how tall something is...it always just seems to strike the worst possible things it can...people. :) Sad thing is, I'm not worried about myself so much as my camera. :)
Thankx Kevin. This was my first lighting photograph. Been wanting to do some, but never had my tripod with me. Heck, I even drove back to the studio to pick it up, and then drive back out of the city limits. The strangest feeling was taking pictures of this big cloud, and having stars gleaming over head and all around the cloud. In some of my other pics of this cloud, you can actually see the stars due to the very, very, slow shutter speed.
That's pretty damn cool. The way the thin bolts burst out of the bottom right of the cloud lend it that necessary degree of chaos, further aided by the horizontal cloud "smudge" near the top. I'm expecting the face of Satan to from from that cloud or something - it's just teetering with energy, ripping it apart at the seams. Very chaotic.
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