PentaxkeCatching lightning in a bottle.<br>
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That night I couldn’t sleep. Since the sky was open, I set out to the beach in hopes of photographing star trails. I was in <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/PuertoPadre?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PuertoPadre</a>, <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Cuba?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Cuba</a> and light pollution was virtually zero, so I had high hopes.<br>
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I hadn’t the faintest clue as to how long exposure had to be, but I figured an hour would be a good estimate. Since the only lens I had at that time was a <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Canon?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Canon</a> EF 28-135 IS USM, I couldn’t include the Polestar if I also wanted to have the <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/sea?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sea</a> in the foreground. However I included a desolated cabin (a hut really) in the frame which I would light paint with my flash.<br>
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About halfway through the exposure a first lightning flash. Although I had no way of knowing how it would result, I didn’t stop the exposure thinking it could add some extra panache to the resulting photo. Before long the storm built up and the sky was filled with lightning bolts.<br>
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Rain starting was my cue to stop exposure and collect everything and leave. When I arrived at the lodge I was soaking wet enveloped by showers of rain I never experienced before (and since.) More seriously, I hadn’t been able to keep my camera dry which was dripping wet also (it didn’t survive and died a couple of months later. The lens on the other hand was unharmed, still functioning normally when I sold it a couple of years later.)<br>
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Of course, I was curious at the result, although I halfheartedly expected nothing from it. Turned out it was my best lucky shot I ever made. Even the star trails are visible. Only downside is the cabin: even after a quadruple scan of the negative and some heavy lifting in <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/captureone?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#captureone</a> (I tried other software as well) there’s no detail to be had and it remains a black square. I could do a retouch to clone it away, but I decided to leave it as it is, since it adds something to the story.<br>
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<a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/throwbackthursday?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#throwbackthursday</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/nature?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#nature</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/naturephotography?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#naturephotography</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/lightning?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lightning</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/lightningbolts?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lightningbolts</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/canoneos620?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#canoneos620</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/fuji?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fuji</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/fujifilm?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fujifilm</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/editedincaptureone?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#editedincaptureone</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/fromthearchives?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fromthearchives</a> #2001