Lightning struck the Empire State Building yesterday:
Pretty cool. Reminds me of the time (which I’ve mentioned before) I was in Chicago, standing outside the Museum of Natural History, when lightning struck the Sears Tower — but my view was blocked by a giant stone pillar. Harumph! Good thing the photographer in New York yesterday had a clear view.
Speaking of the Sears Tower… check out this view from the 3L boat cruise yesterday:
It was actually a full rainbow, though I couldn’t capture the whole thing in one picture. I wouldn’t have caught any of it if Mike, Kevin and Charles hadn’t told me to come over and look… after which they proceeded to argue over who should get the hat tip on the blog. Heh. Well, they can all consider this a photographic hat tip:
Incidentally, I have a lot of other 3L Week pics that I haven’t posted yet, but (as with my tornado photos) I haven’t had time to organize and upload them because of all this packing. Ugh.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:11:27 am
What’s the best way to get a photo of a lightning strike? I’ve always wondered.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:29:14 am
It’s virtually impossible except when it’s dark out. When it’s dark out, you can point your camera at the sky, set it on its longest exposure, and wait. I’ve gotten plenty of lightning pictures on a 15-second exposure pointed at a dark sky. The odds of lightning striking in the camera’s field of view during a 15-second window aren’t terrible; take enough pictures like that, and there’s a good chance you’ll get something. But if it’s during the day, a 15-second exposure (or even a 1-second exposure) will overexpose the shot and leave you unable to see the lightning at all. And if you point the camera at the sky during the day, and just take a snapshot with the normal automatic exposure — probably 1/60 of a second or thereabouts — the odds that you’ll get a bolt of lightning in the shot are incredibly slim.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:30:02 am
P.S. I assume the Empire State Building photo was in fact taken at night, and the light illuminating the clouds is not sunlight, but the light from the lightning bolt itself.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:32:19 am
P.P.S. On the other hand, the lights on the buildings don’t seem to be on… so maybe the picture was taken during the day. If so, the photographer is either incredibly lucky, or was using some fancy equipment/technique that I don’t have or know about. :)
May 18th, 2007 at 1:45:40 am
Re: “some fancy equipment/technique”… maybe the photog had one of these.
May 18th, 2007 at 8:38:19 am
What is with the guy on the right in the Starfleet uniform. That doesnt look like a federation comm badge?
:)
May 18th, 2007 at 9:36:00 am
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