The Cellar - May 23rd 2014: Lightning.

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May 23rd 2014: Lightning.

http://s28.postimg.org/bppeiulsd/Isle_of_Wight.jpg

St. Catherine's Point lighthouse, Isle of Wight.

This week, the southern UK has experienced severe thunderstorms which at least provided the opportunity to capture the above image.

Yesterday afternoon's storm here (NW of London) lasted about two hours and resulted in aircraft taking tortuous routes into Heathrow in an attempt to avoid the cells.

We had the full range of sound and light special effects, with the exception of Vincent Price emerging from the woodwork.

Well, you can't have everything, I suppose.

So.... when did the huge machines start to crawl up out of the ground and begin ray-gunning everything??

Marble sized hail shoveled off porches around here... earth, we broke it.

Carruthers, as a lightning photograph connie-sewer(I've stolen 988 of them), I must say that's a winner. Nice, very nice. :thumb:

Um, make that 989.:blush:

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 899586)

Carruthers, as a lightning photograph connie-sewer(I've stolen 988 of them), I must say that's a winner. Nice, very nice. :thumb:

Um, make that 989.:blush:

One aims to please, Bruce.:thumb:

Some more here for your delight and delectation. Two or three probably up to the standard of that above.

Daily Mail

It is a lovely photograph.

I see the opportunity to capture strikes like this by finding a suitable overlook with the storm in the distance, so a wide field of view offers a chance to see more places the lightning might strike. Then, set your camera on a tripod, set the sensitivity to the lowest possible ISO, and the longest possible exposure (for my unmodded Canon G10, that's 15 seconds, with chdk, I can go much, much longer), consider adding darkening filters if needed or possible to reduce the amount of light getting to the camera's sensor/film. then take several (long) exposures in succession, hoping that during one of your bursts the lighting will show up.

In the picture above, it's the porchlight at the structure that shines like a searchlight that gives it away for me. it may well be nighttime when this shot was taken, but with a loooooooonnnnnggg exposure, all that light accumulates on the sensor, giving the sense of daylight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 899619)

It is a lovely photograph.

Yes, it featured prominently on the front page of The Times on Wednesday this week, and in several other national newspapers as well.

Thanks for the explanation of the technicalities. I wouldn't have a clue where to start, but at least I can appreciate the end product.

This is somewhat tangential to the thread, but this letter appeared in The Times this morning:

Quote:

It is 500 years since Henry VIII signed the decree which put Trinity House in charge of navigation

Sir, Your front-page photograph (May 21) of lightning over the Trinity House lighthouse at St Catherine’s Point on May 20 was more than a good photo — it was a unique celebration of 500 years of the service Trinity House has given to mariners around our shores; for it was on May 20, 1514, that Henry VIII signed a decree directing Trinity House “to regulate pilotage navigation of shipping in our streams”.

Trinity House has been doing that ever since, and St Catherine’s is one of the many hundreds of seamarks we have around our coast marking our shipping lanes and keeping our mariners safe. As an acknowledged world leader in the safety of navigation it is fitting that its 500th anniversary should be so recognised.

Jeremy de Halpert

Petersfield, Hampshire.

On the same tangent. :blush:
With all the ships bustling in, out, and around, England...er, Great Britain, and all those pointy rocks along the edge, traffic control would have become a priority long ago... 500 years long ago.

Looks like Trinity Leith came first with the nod from King Robert II in 1380.

Quote:

Trinity House was the headquarters of the Incorporation of Masters and Mariners, a trade incorporation and charitable organisation founded in the 14th century when the shipowners and shipmasters of Leith formed a Fraternity (from which the name, Trinity, may derive).

But they must have pissed somebody off because in 1514 King Henry VIII gave Trinity Strond the royal nod. I wonder if he lopped off Leith's head?

Quote:

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond,[1] known as Trinity House (formally The Master Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St. Clement in the Parish of Deptford Strond in the County of Kent), is a private corporation governed under a Royal Charter (rather than a non-departmental public body).

It has three core functions: it is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible for the provision and maintenance of navigational aids, such as lighthouses, lightvessels, buoys, and maritime radio/satellite communication systems. Trinity House is also an official deep sea pilotage authority, providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters. It is also a maritime charity, dispersing funds for the welfare of retired seamen, the training of young cadets and the promotion of safety at sea...

Aside - I think "seamarks" used in the editors letter rolls off the tongue much more pleasantly than light houses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 899649)

Have a look here Bruce, for today's maritime traffic and zoom in on the straits of Dover:

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/

Yes I've seen several similar sites showing ship or plane traffic these days, it's really bedlam around the popular destinations.
But 500 years ago there was far less traffic on the seas... except around England. Not only ships bringing booty from the empire, and shipping the undesirables out, but moving things like coal around the home island. Lots of traffic, lots of wrecks, lots of heroics, and lots deaths.

Oh, and lots of tragedies... like the money lost by the ship owners when it sank with all hands.
Of course that led to the founding of Lloyd's, but that's another tangent.