Summer Storms

Hey Surfers!

It's been incredibly hot where I live recently so I've been spending my lunch breaks relaxing by the riverside and soaking up some vitamin D.  

All of that sunshine, however, prompted an enormous thunderstorm last night which lasted until the early hours of the morning. Before I went to bed curiosity got the better of me; I wanted to see if I could capture
the lightning in a photograph. We've all seen the amazing pictures of lightning storms online and I had to try my hand at it.

It took a very long time, a numb arm and a hundred pictures of blank sky before I managed two shots of lightning; however on their own they weren't particularly impressive...

.. so I decided to combine them, along with another picture I took that evening, to make a better image. 

I followed the tips on this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgLkE_Rl6G8 by Lynda.com and  managed to create a photograph of this beautiful summer storm.

Summer storms...

This was my first attempt at a composite/layered image and I'm excited to try more in the future. I definitely recommend Lynda.com on YouTube if you, like me, use Photoshop Elements.

Taking photographs of lightning takes a vast store of patience but the end result can be really quite striking.  I have a much better understanding of how to capture the image for the next time there is a storm, but let's hope that isn't for a while! I'd like as much sunshine as possible please :)

Enjoy your summer everyone!

Love E

Someone did not like the storm...

Side note: If you're going to try taking pictures during a storm make sure to be safe and don't go anywhere where there would be a risk of being hit. I took my pictures from the front door.