Lightning - Critique please

Took this photo during a storm on the weekend, what do you think?

HAHA, I think your timing is perfect. Did your hair stand on end?

very nice...I like it..

Avi

I really like this image a lot. I sure wish we had lightning here so I could shoot it.

Just curious, but is this two exposures blended together?

The reason I think this is because I see some "lightening" inside the trees like you painted a mask to reveal another exposure for the foreground elements.

wow.. nicely done.

very nice, I know that is the spectrum of color it picked up but I like my lighting a bit more blue. nice movement of the lighting though

I really like it, there's a bit too much foreground included though, and there's a halo around the tree.

It's not HDR'd is it?

Hi everyone... thanks for all the positive comments

No this image is not a HDR.. I have fiddled with it a bit in lightroom 2 though... especially making the background a bit more vibrant and increasing the sharpness.

curiousgeorge - yes I agree that there is a little too much foreground in the image, mistake on my part.... especially seeing how far the lightning went it would have been better if i used a wide angle lens. This was my first attempt at lightning though... will know for next time.

There was a water mark above the the tree line on the right hand side, I removed it using CS3. There are a couple in the trees that I haven't had a chance to touch up yet.

Thanks again for the positive comments, appreciate it!

I think it is a really nice capture, the houses add a nice touch I think, if only there was more sky overall that allowed the entire lightning bolt to be captured. I think you did a little too much sharpening and contrast enhancing with it, as there are silhouettes surrounding the lightning and even the trees with how much was done. It will still be a great shot without so much post-processing.

Also what do you mean there was a watermark above the tree line? What was the watermark from?

I like it!

Interesting use of color as well.

Fantastic! great capture.

Very cool!

Good job on capturing some good lightning! Looks a bit close for me to even try that.

Hey, where did the pic go?

Yea whats the big idea???? I want to see it Pretty please