lightning

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Photography

Brilliant Star Trails Sweep Above a Fierce Tangle of Lightning in a Striking Photo

Image © Marc Sellés Llimós, shared with permission

Back in June, Marc Sellés Llimós photographed multiple instances of illumination in a single nighttime sky. From the village of Manlleu, Osona, where he lives and works, Sellés Llimós captured a fierce thunderstorm as it raged on the other side of the Serra de Bellmunt mountain in Carcassonne, France. The 380-image composite shows a brilliant tangle of lightning below sweeping star trails, produced with a slow, six-minute exposure. According to NASA, which featured the work as one of its astronomy photos of the day, the trails reflect the Earth’s daily rotation around its axis, and the extent of their curvatures represents the distance from the north pole.

Head to Instagram to purchase a print and to see an archive of Sellés Llimós’s photos.  (via Peta Pixel)

Photography

A Stunning Double Rainbow Frames a Lightning Bolt as It Strikes the Mountainous Virginia Horizon

Image © Jason Rinehart, shared with permission

During what he thought would be a routine storm-chasing expedition in Virginia last week, photographer Jason Rinehart visited an overlook within the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was hoping to capture the ominous shelf cloud leading that night’s torrent but instead found himself witnessing an unusually lucky sight: as the rain broke during twilight, a double rainbow emerged over the horizon, an already stunning phenomenon made more serendipitous when it was punctured by a bright lightning bolt in the distance. Rinehart captured the perfectly timed moment in a striking photo, which is now part of his extensive archive of landscapes and long-exposure light paintings that you can find on Instagram. (via PetaPixel)

Photography

Menacing Storms Rip Across Remote Landscapes in Black-and-White Photos by Mitch Dobrowner

Hendrum, Minnesota. All images © Mitch Dobrowner, shared with permission

Photographer Mitch Dobrowner (previously) captures some of nature’s most dramatic and overpowering shows of force in his black-and-white images of storm cells. Living between Los Angeles and Lone Pine, California, Dobrowner often travels throughout the Midwest and Southwest documenting major systems that rage across rural regions. He frames lightning strikes, enormous spiraling clouds, and dense sheets of rain through wide angles or panoramic views to contrast the extreme weather with the vast, remote landscapes. Dobrowner will be visiting the Northern Plains in the next few weeks to catch the area’s storm season, which you can follow on Instagram.

Peckham, Oklahoma

Photography

Towering Plumes of Volcanic Smoke Mix With Streaks of Lightning in Photographs by Francisco Negroni

All photographs © Francisco Negroni, shared with the artist’s permission

Chilean freelance photographer Francisco Negroni captures nature at its most rambunctious, with a particular focus on volcanic eruptions and lightning storms. In his work, bright orange and red streaks of lava burst from mountains, enormous plumes of smoke overtake the horizon, and dramatic lightning strikes connect the earth and sky. The photographer originally studied advertising photography and tourism, but once he witnessed his first volcano, he knew that it would be his focus going forward.

Colossal spoke with Negroni about his strategies for braving the elements and capturing just the right moments:

When I go outside to take photographs, I try to leave with the images in my mind: I imagine what I am going or want to achieve that day in that place… Although many times I don’t get what I imagined or thought would be a good photograph, and I get others that I couldn’t have imagined and they are much better, it’s strange. But almost always I work in a direct documentation, with an idea in base, but trying to always obtain an understanding of something more difficult for the spectator.

Due to the expenses and difficulties of traveling in the Chilean backcountry, Negroni carefully tracks  upcoming eruptions and risk factors to maximize the potential of each trip. He travels light, only with a backpack containing a laptop, camera, tripod, and three lenses, and he camps in his car for longer excursions.  Presently, Negroni shoots for reporters and journalists, and has published his work with National Geographic, the Associated Press, and Terra. You can see more of his weather and landscape photographs, which are also available as prints, on his website. For the adventurous, Negroni also leads personalized tours and workshops.

Amazing Photography Science

Transient: An Extraordinary Short Film That Captures Lightning at 1,000 Frames per Second

Filmmaker and photographer Dustin Farrell spent over a month this summer traveling some 20,000 miles for the sole purpose of filming thunderstorms around the United States. Using a pricey Phantom Flex4K high-speed camera he filmed lightning strike after lightning strike at 1,000 frames per second, resulting in the impressive footage that shows the remarkable complexity of electricity in the atmosphere. Most of the footage in the final cut was shot around Farrell’s home state of Arizona.

“Lightning is like a snowflake. Every bolt is different,” shares Farrell. “I learned that lightning varies greatly in speed. There are some incredible looking bolts that I captured that didn’t make the cut because even at 1000fps they only lasted for one frame during playback. I also captured some lightning that appear computer generated it lasted so long on the screen.”

You can catch a few more of his short films here. (via PetaPixel)

Design

A Levitating Wireless Speaker in the Shape of a Storm Cloud

Richard Clarkson Studio (previously) has teamed up with Crealev (previously) to produce a miniature floating cloud, one that hovers indoors while both playing your favorite music and lighting up in tune to the beat to replicate a storm. The design, called Making Weather, is formed from polyester fibers which hide a Bluetooth speaker, LED lights, and a magnet. This magnet allows the form to float above the piece’s mirrored base in opposite polarity with another magnet, seeming to organically hover and sway to the music that is pumped through it.

Currently in prototype form, the indoor cloud will be hopefully become available for living room use in the near future. (via My Modern Met)