Lightning strike, almost dirtied my drawers!!

I'm probably posting this in the wrong forum but it is nature in action.

I live in Leelanau County, MI and was standing in the kitchen taking pictures of the severe storm as it was passing by and managed to snap a picture of lightning striking the field just past my backyard. It struck close enough to make me drop the phone and almost drop a duke in my pants.




Does anyone know how to sharpen this pic a little? I have absolutely zero photo editing skills and would be grateful if someone could clean it up for me. The first picture was taken just before the strike. The second is lightning striking just to the left of the shed.

wow, perfect timing on that, on an cell phone none the less! Most clear lightning pictures are either long exposure (like 4, 10, 30 seconds) or the shutter button is hooked up to a light sensitive trigger. Mostly they are long exposure on a tripod though... That picture you captured was pure luck! unless the lightning scared your finger into jumping and hitting the button, sorry I cant clear up the picture for you.

Man those close lightning strikes are nuts! I've only been near one, and it freaked me out. I was pretty young, probably 9 or so and it struck a few yards away from the car. Whole world lit up. Like standing next to the ocean. I hope someone can sharpen up that picture for you. I know it still won't do the experience justice though.

reply to post by QuestionsEverything


Here you go OP.
Don't doodle.



SnF for the pics .

reply to post by IntegratedInstigator


I had already pressed the button to take the picture, there's probably a 1 second delay. It snaked across the sky behind me and nailed the ground about 100 yards out, and it definitely scared me enough to drop the camera and run into the hall for a second lol.

And yes, complete sheer luck

There's no way you can sharpen that pic. You can try lowering the contrast but I'm very doubtful that it will do much.

Good timing

reply to post by Domo1


Yeah it was extremely bright, scared the crap out of me. Really hope someone can sharpen it, wish I was using a camera instead of cell phone.

reply to post by randyvs


Nice vid, makes me wanna go Gallagher on some cantaloupes lol.

Originally posted by QuestionsEverything
reply to post by IntegratedInstigator

 

I had already pressed the button to take the picture, there's probably a 1 second delay. It snaked across the sky behind me and nailed the ground about 100 yards out, and it definitely scared me enough to drop the camera and run into the hall for a second lol.

And yes, complete sheer luck

Lmao.
second.

YIkes....did you see the light ad hear the thunder at about the same time?

That only happened to me once, in my younger days. I was in my bedroom, un-alone.
and BLAMMO...we could see it with our eyes closed..and hear it at the same time.
an outside transformer exploded...Everything that was plugged in, was ruined (except for one thing).
all the light bulbs that were on, were burnt out.
But she was impressed.

reply to post by spacedoubt


It sounded like the sky was tearing, nice timing n your encounter too though.

reply to post by spacedoubt


I bet she got a charge out of you.
Light em up !

Sure looks like bigfoot country OP.

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by spacedoubt

 

I bet she got a charge out of you.
Light em up !

It's not the first "Lightning Crashes" for you today is it?

LOL

reply to post by DeathbecomesLife

It's not the first "Lightning Crashes" for you today is it?

Yeah really !
You following me ?

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by DeathbecomesLife

 

It's not the first "Lightning Crashes" for you today is it?

Yeah really !
You following me ?

Nope.

Right here beside you.

reply to post by DeathbecomesLife


That'll work.

I like when a thread is in this chit chat forum. Seems like the mods leave us alone as long as we don't get to out of hand. I think that's why my thread got moved to off topic as well.

I've been hit indirectly by lightning three times now (I do live in the former lightning capital of the world)....

I can tell you exactly what it feels like. If you get it really bad, you don't feel anything when it happens. It's after, that sucks (and if bad, it knocks you out). Your ears are ringing, and your entire body has that feeling like when your foot is asleep, but times 100. It slowly ekes away, and you start to feel normal again. It's like your computer just got rebooted or something, hehe...

Only one of the three times, was I knocked out. I was walking on the beach, observing a storm (stupid, I know, but I was an immortal teenager)... It struck the sand near me (which made a pretty cool object), and knocked me out cold. I came to a few minutes later.

The first time, I was real young, it arced out of a light socket when the house was hit, and fried my hand pretty good. No scarring though.

The most recent time, I was in my twenties, and my friends and I were river rafting. The storm came up during the last mile of the river, so we tried to beat it to the end, and the exit point. I was just getting out of the water (had one foot in) when it hit the opposite bank. The water turned blue, I got a good jolt, and my buddy behind me dropped like a stone. Luckily, a little chest compression and he was back ok. (I was this close to resorting to mouth to mouth)...but he took the brunt of that hit. My leg was numb for a half hour after that.

reply to post by Gazrok


I'm not sure if getting struck by lightning 3 times and living to tell the tale makes you extremely lucky or unlucky.

By the third strike I'd be pretty upset if I wasn't able to fly or move metal objects with just the power of my mind, hopefully something cool rode the lightning into you.

You can literally describe something as feeling " Like a bolt of lightning struck me directly in the tip of the penis" (Stepbrothers) lol

And for that, we thank you......

reply to post by QuestionsEverything


I feel pretty lucky...to still be here. My "hits" have really all been near misses, as I was really more in close proximity to them...no direct hit. I'd think that would be unlikely to be survivable by most.

By the third strike I'd be pretty upset if I wasn't able to fly or move metal objects with just the power of my mind, hopefully something cool rode the lightning into you.

About the only thing is an odd effect on some streetlights. (Google on Debbie the Slider, and you'll see what I mean). I also can't wear a digital watch without it going to crap in a few days (but then, who wears them anymore?). If I'm standing in the room, you'll get great stereo or TV reception (until I get closer to it)....