I enjoy capturing images of lightning. Most of the time I have to travel to where the storms are and then hope to get some good images. Once in a while, the storms come to me. Today was that kind of day. I set up the tripod and camera looking out the back porch of my house in Flagstaff and began to shoot.
Lightning near Flagstaff, Arizona. Settings: 1/4 second, f/8.0, ISO200, 28 mm lens.Lightning near Flagstaff, Arizona. Settings: 1/8 second, f/11, ISO200, 28 mm lens.
These lightning strokes had many filaments and channels and were exquisitely detailed. Absolutely amazing! I think it is fair to say that these may be the best images I have captured in over 30 years of trying — first on film and now digitally.
The North American Monsoon is bringing thunderstorms to the southwest United States including northern Arizona. You would think that with almost daily thunderstorms it would be easy to shoot great images of lightning and thunderstorms. Well, not always…
One of the characteristics of the rainy season in the higher elevations of northern Arizona is that as the storms develop in the late morning or early afternoon it quickly becomes overcast so that it is difficult to see the individual storms. It is equally difficult to photograph lightning because it is often raining over large areas obscuring the view of the lightning.
Lightning in Sunset Crater National Monument.
So I was particularly pleased when we had two days in a row in which I was able to photograph lightning and actually see the thunderstorms. The lightning was photographed in Sunset Crater National MonumentĀ overlooking the Bonito Lava Flow; the mountain that it is striking is O’Leary Peak. There is a fire lookout station at the summit of the peak and I’m certain they get their fair share of close bolts.
Sunset colors on an Arizona thunderstorm.
The following day proved equally photogenic. This thunderstorm was photographed in late afternoon and is quite dramatic with mammatus clouds visible from the anvil region of the storm.
The North American Monsoon (NAM) is in full swing across the southwestern states and the daily showers and thunderstorms present many opportunities for dramatic lighting and lightning.
Earlier this week I traveled to the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park hoping to get some sunset images with storm clouds hanging over the canyon. Well, there certainly were clouds — and there wasn’t much of a sunset. The backup plan was to photograph lightning. On this count, the storms didn’t disappoint. There was a storm to the west and I was able to point the camera across the lines of cliffs and rock faces that were already falling into deep shadow in the late twilight. And off in the distance was a great flash of lightning.
Lightning over the Grand Canyon.
A few days later I tried once again to capture twilight lightning — this time at Sunset Crater National Monument. A storm developed in early evening and moved to the northeast over the lower terrain of the Painted Desert in the Little Colorado River Valley.
Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.
In the foreground can be seen the Ponderosa Pine trees at the higher elevations in the Monument; in the middle distance are some of the many cinder cones that are a part of theĀ San Francisco Volcanic Field; in the far distance are the lower elevations of the Painted Desert.
Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.
With the typical NAM lasting through early September there should be plenty of opportunities for more dramatic lightning photographs.
