Big Lightning Small City

[03mach1speed]

This is my first picture submission and need some words of advice. It is unedited, obviously it needs to be leveled and the lightning is over exposed? If someone is interested, I would love to see what some good editing could create. Glad to be here and looking to learn...... Thanks for looking....




Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 5
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[leviathan]

Great capture! I'm jealous. My only suggestion would be to level what looks like a soccer field at the bottom of the frame. It's tilted.

[hilhi2005]

Sorry, Noob question, but for the exposure, that is 5 seconds, correct? Looks great. Had a Lightning storm yesterday as well, and realized how cool it would be to capture it.

[03mach1speed]

^^^^ Yes, that was a 5 sec. exposure, just used the bulb setting with a tripod and homemade remote switch.

Originally Posted by leviathan

Great capture! I'm jealous. My only suggestion would be to level what looks like a soccer field at the bottom of the frame. It's tilted.

Thanks for the kind words, but I posted the picture as it came out of the camera... No editing to the picture was done. Wanted to see what could be done with some experienced editing.

[Ali QJo]

Well I'd love to have a go at it! I'll post my attempt in a few.

[Ali QJo]

Here is my first attempt. I straightened the image and cloned out a few of the lightposts. Then I made it a bit darker by adjusting the midtone levels and color curves. Finally I increased the contrast a little.



Then it started reminding me of The War of the Worlds.....after all, it is H.G.Wells' birthday! I added an HDR filter and increased the saturation and adjusted the hue. I know this looks kind of crazy and unreal....but sometimes that's okay.

[PhotoPhix]

Originally Posted by 03mach1speed

This is my first picture submission and need some words of advice. It is unedited, obviously it needs to be leveled and the lightning is over exposed? If someone is interested, I would love to see what some good editing could create. Glad to be here and looking to learn...... Thanks for looking....




Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 5
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

The possibilities are endless with this type of shot.

Armando

Straightening
Color Adjust
Sharpening
Cloning

[03mach1speed]

Ali and PhotoPhix, great examples of what can be done. Thanks for your time and help.....

[hilhi2005]

Thanks for the response.

[MSidPhoto]

This shot was amazing....just sooo amazing.

Love the editing done by all especially Photophix's one. He's right, the possibilities are truely endless with the type of photo you have taken
Great Shot. Keep it up