Strikes at the ball game

Handheld Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Lens (mm): 300
ISO: 1250, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/20
What’s a photographer to do during a Lexington Legends rain delay? How ’bout try his luck at catching a bolt of lightning over the Lexington skyline.

I use the word luck because there is an awful lot of that involved here. But it also took a little patience. I spent about 15 minutes on the balcony at Applebee’s Park with the Canon 1D Mark II and 300 f2.8 glued to my face waiting for lighting strikes to hit near or behind the Lexington skyline. I caught a couple of other flashes, but they didn’t line up nearly as nice as the one above.

One problem I made for myself was using the 300mm lens. I didn’t give myself any latitude for cropping. Lightning was everywhere but I took a gamble and stayed on the skyline. The image above is nearly full frame (probably 95% of the original frame).

Here are a couple of other strikes. The difference in color is accurate – the fast moving storm darkened the sky quickly. The image above was taken about 12 minutes after these below.

– David Stephenson

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