After being teased by only weak showers and thunderstorms thus far this season, I was finally treated to a nice lightning show tonight…and some actual rain! I didn’t even have to leave my property; I just set up the tripod in front of the garage and fired away to my northwest. Most of the strikes were non-stacatto, the most photogenic with the high based thunderstorms out here.

For the next five images I shifted my white balance to a fluorescent setting, and achieved a much more appealing blue tint to my images.

A little over a week ago I had an impromptu opportunity to take some lightning pictures while on a trip to east Texas. A slow-moving thunderstorm crept north of where we were staying (Pittsburg, TX), and produced a swath of heavy rain and alleged severe wind gusts. The bulk of the rain fell north of our location, and as the storm sluggishly distanced itself from us the backside of the anvil began to illuminate with lightning. Many of the lightning strikes were anvil crawlers, intracloud discharges that seem to “crawl” on the underside of the storm anvil. While they can make decent subject matter for still photography, I think it is more intriguing to watch the live progression of anvil crawlers as they rapidly propagate parallel to the horizon. Anvil crawlers can make some amazing video footage, but I settled for still photos. Here are three of my captures.

Anvil crawlers light up the backside of a thunderstorm in Pittsburg, TX.

An anvil crawler lights up the backside of a thunderstorm in Pittsburg, TX.

An anvil crawler lights up the backside of a thunderstorm in Pittsburg, TX.