Astronomy, Photography and Weather

Here are a few screen grabs. Not the best of quality but at least it's a result. The thunderstorms here produced a good mix of intra-cloud and cloud to ground bolts which were branched, vivid blue with the naked eye, and very unpredictable. The thunder was quite frightening!. I took quite a risk today.

(http://i37.tinypic.com/2wqzg2b.jpg)

(http://i36.tinypic.com/2eur9qt.jpg)

(http://i34.tinypic.com/2vmik4n.jpg)

(http://i37.tinypic.com/vsgxo3.jpg)

(http://i38.tinypic.com/9aq0ow.jpg)

Excellent work Martin. #3 is a corker!

P.

excellent shots! maybe one day i will get in the thick of it lol.

Martin those are crackers!!! You are getting close every time... How far was the strikes...  ;D

Thanks everyone!. The strikes where very close to me. That's with the wide lens so they where much closer than they appear on the stills. I wanted to stand on the top of the hill in pic 3 and start shooting facing E but the lightning was too deadly there. I waited for the storm to move east before I walked into that area. The bolts seemed to curve and whip all over the place. Very scary!

I wish I had some better stills but the rain, camera damage risk, and panic about getting hit made me very selective. Still filled a 2GB card though  :)

I agree with Paul. #3 shot is excellent, although unsharp, but that lightning looks very serious!  :)

And you standed in an open area on the top of the hill! Be careful with those things! Not only a camera could be damaged.