We were lying on the couch watching Sleeping Beauty around 7:45 or so this evening, when Chloe looked out the window and said, “Daddy, it’s getting dark.” I looked up and there was an amazing orange cast outside. I ran to grab my camera and stepped outside into a Martian-like landscape: the sunset reflecting off of the storm clouds had bathed the entire neighborhood in an eerie orange glow.

Stormy © 2004 Kevin W. Hammond All Rights Reserved

This picture, Stormy, posted here was taken with my 28-135mm lens at 115mm.  I used f/22 for maximum depth of field and manually focused the lens at infinity.  I adjusted my camera's meter until a shutter speed of 1/80s indicated a correct exposure.

What really struck me as odd is this picture I grabbed of a cloud that was a beautiful white above, and an ominous orange below.  Amazingly, the storm missed us on both the north and the south side, but did yield some fantastic views of the thunder storm that captivated our attentions for well over half-an-hour.  Unfortunately, I don't yet have the knack for capturing lightning, but I did prove to myself once again that if you hold the shutter open long enough, you can make low-light surroundings look just like broad daylight!