Not a great shot by any means, but I saw lightning coming here and there as I was trying to get light trails with my wide-angle lens at a "work site" on Old Milton Rd....I decided to leave when the cops came around (blue lights flashing beyond a barrier that kept me safe; threw in the camera and tripod and zoomed away--how scandalous!). The place where I set up the tripod was really a safe good one, but I think someone must have called or they were making rounds. Either way, I gave up trying to get a big flash in the sky (oh, but I missed one that would have been awesome!). Oh well, joy I got a bit of flash in the distance.
Edited the bejesus out of it, so it's really a hurting shot honestly.
Oh, and good news! My food shot was accepted for critique tomorrow night. Yay! I don't expect much, but would love to get feedback and also to see what others came up with. I'm expecting cool shots of fruit in water or soda or something like that--still haven't done any of that!
Amanda, I highly recommend learning how to do it. Do you have a tripod? If so, you can really work with long exposure with low ISOs and tight apertures. The tripod will keep the lights from too much movement. Lightening in a long exposure (as I just found out is pretty easy as the flash is so momentary that it's like it just appears while the rest of the shot is continuing to absorb the lights from the moving cars). You will take a ton of horrible shots though. This is just one of a bunch of duds! But once you have your settings right, you just keep hitting the shutter button until the right one comes along. I missed the BIG strike by one second...
@darylo And then you would not get arrested or maybe would because they think you are a hooker;-). I have a tripod as I do selfies all the time. I should try this sometime. Thanks for the pointers.
haha... I'm not sure if the 'blue light cops' were actually after you or wth was going on ... but Very Cool Shot!!! Great news too about your 'food photo'!!!
I hate you!!!! (; I have been wanting to get a shot like this for years!! So proud and happy for you. Add to it the adventure and you have yourself an exciting night!! Not a hurting shot at all!
@grammyn I hate you too. Hahahaha! I'm sure Alabama has some great lightning too. Just be far away. I was not even looking for lightning but it arrived and I adjusted the goal posts. Xoxox ♡♡♡♡♡
@danette@grammyn@lisatown Oh the food review did not really go very well for me. I should have read her bio more--strict vegetarian. Her comments were initially this: looks like someone really likes BBQ, which I would know nothing about. She wanted me to move the flames over and then she did comment on the "dead space" behind the very crisp line of the meat, but she didn't talk about any merits at all. It was disappointing because another food photographer clearly arranged a shot of ingredients for the shot (it was a salad)--it was so cleverly done and all she said was "does anyone see a face?" Luckily it was an interactive review, so I told her I was a chef/cook and that it appeared that this was a concept for food presentation for a recipe--the bowl of croutons and the spoon gave it away. At that point she said, "oh, a conceptual reading of the photograph, I see." It was clear she was not versed in ANY way on food photography, so a big disappointment. Her pics were disappointing because some other great shots got dissed in a way that showed her ignorance rather than her expertise. My shot was a late comer and I didn't think it needed recognition, but when I talked to the photo club board members afterwards, they were clearly unhappy with her comments as she rarely discussed the theme...which was FOOD. Oh for goodness sakes...
Sorry to hear, but glad you are taking advantage of the competitions/reviews. You will run into judges like her. I judged high school debate for 4 years and never put my personal opinions into my decision.
Good luck with that food shot too(;