stars and lightning

[c3p1]

Hi all,
I am new to the nighttime side of photography and quickly falling in love with it. I was on a recent vacation on Grand Cayman island and took some various pictures. There was a steady stream of clouds so I could not get long star trails, but luckily some of the clouds produced some lightning over the water to make them interesting to me. I used the StarTrails program and no other post processing.
Any feedback is appreciate especially on how to do better!



I know most dont like the plane tails, but I like this one as it is coming in for a landing.






Thanks! Paul

[Chet]

I'm really digging the 1st and last shots. Nice!

[ct1co2]

The last one is fantastic! I would suggest cropping out the top corner of the frame where I am assuming you are catching part of the building.

[Naturalist]

Yes, the first and last shots are the better IMHO, with the last being superb! Print it large and frame it!

[dan_bgblue]

The last shot is stunning!

[Firemike]

#3 is really cool, #4 is an awesome capture, lightning both inside and outside the cloud (possibly cloud-to-cloud) and a ground strike all in one shot, and star trails for the icing on the cake! I agree with ct1co2, a tighter cropping to get rid of the distractions.

[Celestron]

I think they all are very good but #1 is especially neat the way the clouds look . What give it that wind blowing look on the right of the thunder cloud ?

[mrbubbles]

These are great. Awesome shots! But they need to be straightened

[c3p1]

Thank you all for the kind comments!

[/quote] Celestron
I think they all are very good but #1 is especially neat the way the clouds look . What give it that wind blowing look on the right of the thunder cloud ?[/quote]
There was a smaller thinner cloud that came floating by and that is why you see that movement.

Originally Posted by mrbubbles

These are great. Awesome shots! But they need to be straightened

yeah I never could shoot straight!

[carlh]

That last shot is amazing! love it

[calypsob]

I would photoshop out the top corner and everything above the thunder clouds in the last one particularly the orange clouds. The last one is really quite an impressive image I would be curious to know how long you exposed it, your iso, and what aperature. # 3 is also amazing. I was in treasure cay a few years back and the power would go out on the entire island, stars were spectacular wish I had a camera back then.

[MidnightSun]

Great shots... Gotta love lightning

[NukeGM]

Last is the best! Nice ones!

[c3p1]

Originally Posted by calypsob

I would photoshop out the top corner and everything above the thunder clouds in the last one particularly the orange clouds. The last one is really quite an impressive image I would be curious to know how long you exposed it, your iso, and what aperature. # 3 is also amazing. I was in treasure cay a few years back and the power would go out on the entire island, stars were spectacular wish I had a camera back then.

calypsob, I agree about the photoshopping and will need to get to that.
The last picture you asked about is a 5 or 6 images stacked (cant remember for sure) using startrails program. They were each 30 second exposures at iso 100 at f4 with my sigma 10-20mm lens.

I was truly lucky to have that storm just sitting off the coast and some clear sky. I am glad I was able to take advantage as this was our last night there!

Again, thanks for all the feedback!
Paul

[barkingspud]

Love the last shot. Although there is quite a bit of distortion on the bottom left part of the photo. Assuming you shot it with the Sigma 10-20mm. Didn't realize they had that much distortion. Otherwise, just crop it and call it a day. It is a great shot!