Tuscan Lightning

Tuscany Mega-storm!! This was insane - at first completely silent, 20 minutes of eye-scorching lightning over the distant hills. Gradually it came closer and closer, and without warning right above us the skies thundered. This was taken on the edge of vineyards overlooking Cerbaia, near Florence, and this was one of the last shots of the night - this immense storm cloud rolled up, I took a final shot and within seconds the rain came hammering down...

For those interested, this was a 6 second shot at f/5 - enough to get the lightning without it blowing out white, and the light pollution from Florence behind the hills, though not as much as I'd have liked (the orange amid the blue cloud)

The lightning illuminated the cloud in this insane way, but the vines are being lit by a flash on full power, some way off to the left, set off by my lovely assistant Eddie

A bit of a balancing act of different lighting, all told, but it worked out in the end!!

jamesappleton.co.uk

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D MKII
Lens:	Canon 16 - 35mm f/2.8 L
Recording media:	RAW (digital)

Title:	Tuscan Lightning
Username:	JamesAppleton
Uploaded:	2 Sep 2010 - 6:26 PM
Tags:	Italia, Italy, Landscape / travel, Lightning, Night, Night / low light, Storm, Toscana, Tuscany, Vines, Vineyards, Wildlife / nature
VS Mode Rating	101 (100% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2 Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode
Votes:	27