A few Lightning pictures from Big Bend National Park

Hi All,

Just got back from my vacation in Big Bend National Park, which is in southwest Texas. What a beautiful place! We had a storm one night I was there that lasted all night, and was absolutely beautiful. There was so much lightning that it was hard to take pictures without everything coming out overexposed. Here's two of the best I captured:



Shot looking towards "The Window"



Shot looking towards the Chisos Mts

Hope you enjoy them!

James

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Hello James! WOW what a great place to go huh? I used to live in El Paso and what a difference from ohio... I took my wife last year out that way and she was soooo amazed... we tried to get shots like that and we could not get it to work out thank goodness for digital video though so we were able to get some neat shot of the lighting storms...

curious though how did you time the shots so good especially with a digital camera? I could not time a thing on my f707 if my life depended on it LOL sher those detail share James share!!!!!

Terry
aka blackpro
http://www.pbase.com \blackpro (pbase supporter)

JamesL said:

Hi All,

Just got back from my vacation in Big Bend National Park, which is
in southwest Texas. What a beautiful place! We had a storm one
night I was there that lasted all night, and was absolutely
beautiful. There was so much lightning that it was hard to take
pictures without everything coming out overexposed. Here's two of
the best I captured:



Shot looking towards "The Window"



Shot looking towards the Chisos Mts

Hope you enjoy them!

James

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Click to expand...

--
I never saw how beautiful Life was before I started taking pictures.

Looked like one heck of a storm! Excellent images.

--
Greg Gebhardt Nikon D1 & D1x. Sony 717, V1! , Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida

Hi Terry,

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the shots. I am originally from Montana, and my wife is a native Texan. I always complain that Texas doesn't have any mountains, so she had to prove me wrong. Wow! Was I wrong. What a beautiful place.

For these types of shots the way I take them, it's basically all about patience. I use a tripod, set the camera to around F4 and 8 seconds (for these), set the exposure to Infinity, point to a location that has consistantly had lightning, and then shoot away. I typically take a few hundred shots, with only a few coming out good. This night was an exception, as there was so much lightning that pretty much everywhere I pointed the camera I captured something.

James

Terry Lynn Likens said:

curious though how did you time the shots so good especially with a
digital camera? I could not time a thing on my f707 if my life
depended on it LOL sher those detail share James share!!!!!

Terry
aka blackpro
http://www.pbase.com \blackpro (pbase supporter)

JamesL said:

Hi All,

Just got back from my vacation in Big Bend National Park, which is
in southwest Texas. What a beautiful place! We had a storm one
night I was there that lasted all night, and was absolutely
beautiful. There was so much lightning that it was hard to take
pictures without everything coming out overexposed. Here's two of
the best I captured:



Shot looking towards "The Window"



Shot looking towards the Chisos Mts

Hope you enjoy them!

James

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Click to expand...

--
I never saw how beautiful Life was before I started taking pictures.

Click to expand...

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Thanks Greg! Yes, it was the most powerful storm I have ever been in. Very beatiful to sit and watch too.

James

Greg Gebhardt said:

Looked like one heck of a storm! Excellent images.

--
Greg Gebhardt Nikon D1 & D1x. Sony 717, V1! , Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida

Click to expand...

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Man Im jealous...I have not had time to make any of my big bend trips I wanted to do this year....I try to get there at least once a year and some times twice....awesome shots !!!!!!!

James

JamesL said:

Hi All,

Just got back from my vacation in Big Bend National Park, which is
in southwest Texas. What a beautiful place! We had a storm one
night I was there that lasted all night, and was absolutely
beautiful. There was so much lightning that it was hard to take
pictures without everything coming out overexposed. Here's two of
the best I captured:



Shot looking towards "The Window"



Shot looking towards the Chisos Mts

Hope you enjoy them!

James

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Click to expand...

This was my first time there. I will definately be going back again. It is around a 10 hour drive for us from Dallas, but well worth the time. Thanks!

jabshutterbug said:

James

JamesL said:

Hi All,

Just got back from my vacation in Big Bend National Park, which is
in southwest Texas. What a beautiful place! We had a storm one
night I was there that lasted all night, and was absolutely
beautiful. There was so much lightning that it was hard to take
pictures without everything coming out overexposed. Here's two of
the best I captured:



Shot looking towards "The Window"



Shot looking towards the Chisos Mts

Hope you enjoy them!

James

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Check out my photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/jamesl