The Shot: Thundercloud and Moonlight

During a particularly stormy week, I sat out on the deck one evening, watching lightning flash in the thunderclouds in the distance.  Every now and again, the weather radio would chirp a warning for the area: flooding, straightline winds, downed trees and power lines, the usual accompaniments to this sort of weather.  The worst of the storms stayed to the north and east; my area of town had barely received any rain and only the occasional wind gust.  The frogs continued to sing in the creek below; the bats continued to hunt, flying within feet of where I was sitting.

Moonlight in clouds

The storms marched across the sky and what had previously been just a glow of lightning now became the occasional streaks in the clouds.   Off to the southeast, the moon had also risen, glowing from behind a break in the clouds.  It was one day from full, so it was quite bright, casting a odd glow on the rest of the sky.  

I retrieved the camera and tripod from inside, setting up on the deck.  My vantage point allowed me to capture a building thunderhead to the east and well-developed anvil to the northeast.  I experimented with the night settings, adjusting the shutter speed in an attempt to capture some of the streaks in the clouds.  The glow of the moonlight added another dimension to the scene, eventually resulting in this:

Thundercloud and Moonlight

[Disclaimer: Always be aware of your own safety when shooting, particularly in potentially severe weather.  No shot is worth life and/or limb.]