Catching lightning in a bottle.
That night I couldn’t sleep. Since the sky was open, I set out to the beach in hopes of photographing star trails. I was in
#PuertoPadre,
#Cuba and light pollution was virtually zero, so I had high hopes.
I hadn’t the faintest clue as to how long exposure had to be, but I figured an hour would be a good estimate. Since the only lens I had at that time was a
#Canon EF 28-135 IS USM, I couldn’t include the Polestar if I also wanted to have the
#sea in the foreground. However I included a desolated cabin (a hut really) in the frame which I would light paint with my flash.
About halfway through the exposure a first lightning flash. Although I had no way of knowing how it would result, I didn’t stop the exposure thinking it could add some extra panache to the resulting photo. Before long the storm built up and the sky was filled with lightning bolts.
Rain starting was my cue to stop exposure and collect everything and leave. When I arrived at the lodge I was soaking wet enveloped by showers of rain I never experienced before (and since.) More seriously, I hadn’t been able to keep my camera dry which was dripping wet also (it didn’t survive and died a couple of months later. The lens on the other hand was unharmed, still functioning normally when I sold it a couple of years later.)
Of course, I was curious at the result, although I halfheartedly expected nothing from it. Turned out it was my best lucky shot I ever made. Even the star trails are visible. Only downside is the cabin: even after a quadruple scan of the negative and some heavy lifting in
#captureone (I tried other software as well) there’s no detail to be had and it remains a black square. I could do a retouch to clone it away, but I decided to leave it as it is, since it adds something to the story.
#throwbackthursday #nature #naturephotography #lightning #lightningbolts #canoneos620 #fuji #fujifilm #editedincaptureone #fromthearchives #2001
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