Ken Rennie
Well-Known Member
The 5th June 2020, the weather looked promising with towering cumulonimbus clouds giving brief periods of sunshine and short sharp showers, just right for photography. We were in the phase of Covid with low numbers of infections where it looked as though we were past the worst and it was only a matter of time before all restrictions would end, little did we know. About 15 miles from where I live is a photogenic stretch of Hadrian’s Wall and this looked like a good location for photography on a dramatic day so dressed in full waterproof gear I ventured out after lunch with camera, tripod and hand gel. I managed to take 4 shots from the same location as the weather changed from bright sunshine to heavy hail and rain. I shot panoramas using my Nikon D810 and Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens 6 vertical shots @36mm f13, 1/25s on a Gitzo tripod with Acratech GP head flipped so that I could level it to take panoramas.
1st image 13:42 There is a very dark cloud above me with thunder rumbling nearby.
2nd image 13:45 (+3 minutes) Heavy rain falling and very close thunder. Lots of work on this image to remove the multiple raindrops on the filter despite the umbrella and frequent filter cleaning. I have cropped in a lot as removing some of the raindrops was just too much work.
3rd image 13:48 (+6 minutes) still heavy hail and rain but the wind had dropped a little and it was now possible to keep the camera dry so no work to remove raindrops from the image
4th image 13:55 (+13 minutes) image with the break in the clouds and blue sky stretching across more of the sky.
After this I walked for several miles along the wall to Sycamore Gap and enjoyed the drama created by the repeated thunderstorms.
There is considerable room to manipulate the images and I have definitely made images 3 and 4 look much less menacing than reality so I may produce different versions of 2,3 and 4. British thunderstorms are rarely dangerous but as I stood beside the wall on top of the hill in the last image with thunder rumbling very nearby I did think that the most sensible course of action was to get off the hill. Ken
1st image 13:42 There is a very dark cloud above me with thunder rumbling nearby.
2nd image 13:45 (+3 minutes) Heavy rain falling and very close thunder. Lots of work on this image to remove the multiple raindrops on the filter despite the umbrella and frequent filter cleaning. I have cropped in a lot as removing some of the raindrops was just too much work.
3rd image 13:48 (+6 minutes) still heavy hail and rain but the wind had dropped a little and it was now possible to keep the camera dry so no work to remove raindrops from the image
4th image 13:55 (+13 minutes) image with the break in the clouds and blue sky stretching across more of the sky.
After this I walked for several miles along the wall to Sycamore Gap and enjoyed the drama created by the repeated thunderstorms.
There is considerable room to manipulate the images and I have definitely made images 3 and 4 look much less menacing than reality so I may produce different versions of 2,3 and 4. British thunderstorms are rarely dangerous but as I stood beside the wall on top of the hill in the last image with thunder rumbling very nearby I did think that the most sensible course of action was to get off the hill. Ken
