Nature doing it's worst-US

[JohnC]

On Sunday I leave home for Oklahoma City.These storms have fascinated me for years and now the camera has taken over and I see more through the lens. These few are from last year and I hope this trip will be as rewarding. The lightning shots ( always my favourites) were taken near Iraan Texas. Sometimes it's difficult to say exactly where I was so an in-built GPS would be the answer but as it is I need to note down the nearest 'town' the,date and time,then I need only check the date and time of the photo and refer to my notes back home. The rainbow was taken near the Big Bends National Park in SW Texas not far from the border with Mexico-we were stopped by Border control who inspected our passports..It's very isolated there so I think we made their day The orange lightning photo was taken near Iraan TX too and that was the colour of the sunset sky-it was surreal. The other sunset photo,the last one, was taken at Malone TX on my last day and I stepped outside from a Mexican diner to see this wonderful sky.

Most of the photos are taken with the Canon 17-40 or 24-105 on a 5D11 ,if lightning is a way off I'll use the 70-200 on the 1.6 X cropped 7D or sometimes the 5D11 will do the job with this lens.I'll be using the in-camera HD video this time too.











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[Apo]

nice shoot John, #3 is amazing love it....

[jiro]

Amazing shots, John. Thanks for sharing.

[Stinky]

Amazing Stuff!! Pretty scary

[KTHXBAI]

#6 is my fave. I love the blue skies.

[jeeperman]

I love me some good storms, have since I was a kid. The lightening shots are cool along with the rainbow, but the shot that I really like is #4, I like the composition and the fact that it is over a green field. I think it shows great depth and even gives a sense of motion in the cloud burst.

[Donald]

Fascinating stuff, John

Enjoy the trip.

For me, this one has the most mood and atmosphere. I think it's about the apparent desolation and the trepidation of what's about to happen. I did wonder if you had thought about applying distortion correction so that teh poles were brought back up to the vertical, or did you want to have that 'falling in' appearance to add to the mood of 'strangeness' of the place.

[Rasbury]

Great shots John.# 4 is my favorite photo.I love storm clouds and have always thought it would be cool to hook up with the storm chasers during tornado season to get some photo's of some super cells and the tornadoes that are spawned from them.

[JohnC]

Many thanks all. Paul-I try to get down where there is a corn/wheat field because the contrast of the green and the black of the sky is very dramatic and as you'll know getting down like that can sometimes give a much better perspective than standing.

Donald..I knew you'd spot the leaning poles The shot was taken at 17mm on the 5D11 so 17mm and when I return home this time I'll get this software that I've just learned about that will straighten poles and buildings and the like. http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/ You can view examples and there's a short tutorial too-only $25

Ron..You live in what is called the Lightning Capital of the World (June -Sept) It's not though, that dubious distinction goes to Kifuka in the mountains of the Democratic Rep. of the Congo. You don't get the storm structures of The Plains but as I'm sure you've experienced, the lightning is stunning. If you haven't already tried have a go at photographing it - A lot of people think it's difficult but it's not-I will say though that daytime lightning is difficult due to the enhanced light even in a storm and blowing out the shot whilst the aperture is open unless you get hold of a lightning detector. There's plenty of info. about to tell you how to do it. Tornadoes are elusive.The chasers sometimes see three or more storms on a radar and decide that storm A is decaying or gone to mush so they drive to storm B or C only to hear on the radio that storm A regenerated and spawned a tornado-there's a lot of skill in the reading of the sat. data but also a good helping of luck is required. I'll always remember an interview on Tv of a man whose home had been destroyed by a tornado in Oklahoma -Tornado Alley- and it was the first one he'd seen and he'd lived there for 19 years.They are often short lived too so you have to be in the right place at the right time. You only get to hear of the big ones ,those that cause mayhem. I've seen only one - Bismark ND 2001. Many chasers go home disappointed-I go for photographs of the storm structures and lightning and if I see a tornado it's a bonus but it's no big deal if I don't see one -obviously I don't see it like that if I see one and it's caused fatalities ,injuries or a lot of damage-most times though we're out on the Plains miles from any habitation. I missed this one by a week last year. Now that would have been something to see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VIehbf09ps

[farhan al shammeri]

#4 like WoW loved the colors