Storm over Grand Marais 001

We had a few thunderstorms this week. I took some photos in the evening as the storm moved over Lake Superior.

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Storm over Grand Marais 002

The setting sun gave a glow to the clouds that made for an awesome picture as lightning struck the water. Notice the person standing by the lighthouse. Not the safest place to stand during an electrical storm. I was glad they didn’t get struck.

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Storm over Grand Marais 003

As it got darker I set the camera to continuously keep taking photos for about fifteen minutes. The lightning had let up so I was just ready to turn off the camera when the biggest lightning bolt of the evening flashed from one end of the storm to the other. It lit up the sky with such intensity that the digital photo was almost completely burned out on my camera screen. I couldn’t even see the lightning bolts in the photo.

I almost deleted it being disappointed that the lightning had been too bright for my camera settings. Since I took the photo in raw I decided to try and bring back the detail in Photoshop. I was surprised that there was enough data when I darkened it to give life to the photo.

Notice the round ball in the middle of the main bolt. I think this is the one that overpowered the camera. The round ball was bright enough to make a path of light in the water straight towards me. I can’t ever remember seeing a lightning bolt with a ball of light in the center like that. I was sure glad I let the camera take one more photo.

StormoverGrandMarais003