…and all I got was this lousy photo.
35mm, ISO 400, f/4, 25 seconds
At least it made some interesting colors!
Well…that is the short story anyway.
Longer story: I have always wanted to try to capture lightning in a photo, and a surprise (very severe) thunderstorm popped on the radar last night. I took my camera, tripod, remote, and rushed out the door to a nearby field (not a barren one though). I was expecting one of those slow-moving normal summer storms that produce a few good cloud-to-ground strikes. Those would typically give me about a 2 minute lead-time to run inside before the rain hit, such as being able to hear/see the rain in the distance.
This was not that storm.
About 2 minutes after this photograph was taken, which was lit up only by multiple cloud-to-cloud strikes, the skies completely opened up. I ran to a nearby awning and buckled-down for the long haul. Any attempts to get more photos were dashed when the rain was consistently blown sideways into the awning as well as strikes occurring solely within the clouds . Winds gusted at around 70 mph, and there were about two cloud-to-cloud strikes every second, for a good twenty minutes straight.
Thunder boomed, skies flashed, and an almost-wet camera later, I now know to pick my storms a little more carefully, and to have a better failsafe than a 6 foot wide awning. 🙂
Learning every day. Maybe I’ll get another chance before summer’s end. Have a great one guys.
Matthew Durr Photography 
I LIKE it! No visible lightning but, as you said, gorgeous colors. I’m afraid I’m not brave enough to stand out in a thunder storm ….. definitely not my thing! I’ve thought several times about purchasing a lightning trigger unit, but something else I needed/wanted more always took the money.
Thanks Bill! And man, those things definitely aren’t cheap! Lightning photography is something I’ll always want to do, but to pay $250+ just to have the (reliable) capability doesn’t seem worth it. 🙂