We have had some spectacular weather here, so I thought the new thread could be about some of your weather.

An approaching thunderstorm over Panama (as seen from an aerial tram)

A bit of an older picture of mine, but lightning over the city of Florence in Arizona.

All sorts of weather over the sea.

Rain

This is my first photo post so wish me luck and let me know if I've done something wrong! This picture was taken in July 2008 at the Twelve Apostles in Victoria as the clouds gathered...

Tizzabelle that's a lovely picture. Well done and welcome to you!

All the pictures are fabulous, but pyonir's is (frighteningly) beautiful!!

Thanks Jakeroo

I'm liking all the shots so far, but Flopsy's is my kinda pic. Great stuff.

Thanks very much!

Wow, what beautiful photos. Gees63, you have a great eye. Most people wouldn't think to take that picture, but there is something intriguing about it.

A foggy afternoon.

Wow, pyonir's and flopsy's pictures are very lovely!

I'm just back from a trip to Athens and Rome; there was a great thunderstorm in Athens, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures as I was too busy trying to keep out of the rain! Perhaps I've got a good picture of the sunny weather lurking, but I've got about 1200 photos from the holiday to look through, so it might be some time... when does this two-week theme end?! Ah, not for a while - I have a chance.

Great pictures everybody!

Welcome back Alex. Hope you had a wonderful trip : )

Wow fantastic pictures everyone. Weather is just too bright and sunny around here,
so no pics at the moment.

More fog, as seen from the back seat from which I was trying to navigate. (This is a couple of winters ago.)

Alex, or anyone, you can always request an extra week or more for a theme. It is often so popular that it needs more time. Let me know.

Ren: Thanks for the welcome and the compliment I'm happy I didn't do something wrong.. so far so good
Pyonir: One day when I'm grown up I want to take a lightning shot as good as yours Love it!

Tizza: Pure luck...that's all it was. :P I do like your shot very much...reminds me of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.

Ren, I didn't know that; thanks for the advice! I do think I'll be quick enough to find a picture to post before the two weeks are up though

Blue sky fluffy white cloud pleasantly warm
Friday 1 July Tyneside

Low cloud in New York last week obscures the top of the Empire State Building.




(Edited to repair broken link.)

Extension of weather theme.
Your pictures have been wonderful and I thought another week might bring out some more gasps of amazement on my part, so bring em on!

It was difficult to choose a picture, I have to admit! I went with this one - it was taken in the Ancient Agora of Athens.

As Alexx mentioned up a bit, she and I have just returned from three weeks in Athens and Rome - for the most part, the weather was so hot, it looked nice but felt quite unbearable at times, so we were relieved in a way when a thunderstorm came along in Athens to remove the humidity! Here's the Acropolis under that looming storm! We were standing at the Temple of Olympian Zeus at the time but had to leave in the downpour!

Alexx/Richard: Whatever the weather, your pictures are beautiful. I think the "stormy" atmosphere rather "fits" with the acropolis. Am quite jealous of your trip, as those places are definitely on my bucket list : )

Since a second week was added, I'll add one more lightning shot of mine. A little blurry but I still like it.

Thanks, Jakeroo. I did think it went as well.

Pyonir - Wow it's breathtaking!!!

Hmm, I seem to have misplaced a message (I hope that's not all I lose today lol).

Anyway...

Pyonir: Another great photo. I have a few questions about it:
1) did you use an auto setting on your camera, or manually leave your aperature open (and no, I'm not trying to be forward lol)
2) did you use a tripod?
3) did you get drenched?
4) is that the same location as the other (and is that place still standing??)

These are "mammatus" or "mammatocumulus" clouds, named for what they resemble. While most people associate them with severe weather, they're actually usually a sign that "the worst has passed".

However, in this particular case, the hail/thunderstorm HAD been tracking north (as in this photo), but the surface winds were blowing in a southwardly direction and somehow the whole system swung around and came back at us from the west lol.

The sky looks very dark, but the picture was taken in the middle of the afternoon. I didn't snap too many, as I thought it might be more prudent to head for the basement instead (we do get tornadoes on the prairies, even this far north).

Hi Jakeroo,
1) This is from my old camera, a Canon G3. So I was using 15 second intervals (the shutter speed was set to 15 seconds). As soon as there was a flash, I ended the exposure (using a remote). So this exposure was 1/1.3 seconds at F2.2.
2) Yep, I was using a tripod
3) Nope, I was on a patio of an apartment complex with a roof overhead. :P it was barely raining where I was anyway...most Arizona storms are very isolated and usually lightning and wind heavy.
4) No, this was just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The lights you see on the horizon on the right side is actually downtown Phoenix. The water you see at the bottom of the pic is part of the Phoenix area canal system. The other shot was about 30 miles east, looking over Florence, Arizona.


Really like your pic by the way. Easily one of my favorite cloud formations.

Here's a Scottish sunset.

Pyonir, that lightning shot is very impressive!

I agree, a great capture.

Here's a New York sunset (sun rather obscured by buildings sadly.)

A memory from December

Pyonir: thank you so much for all the details. I've written down the specifics, so that I can put my camera on either manual or A-priority and try them out one day/night.

Anyone interested: I realise that most folks have "automatic" cameras these days ( am saddened that real film has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur), so many people aren't completely sure just what went on when they took a certain picture. All photos taken with digital cameras have data embedded in the picture file itself. It's not "readily" available, but several photo editing programs do show you the metadata information. Which is pretty cool, since if you see the results of certain settings (and assuming you have a digital SLR), you can "tweak" your settings on future efforts to try to get the result you really wanted in the first place. And, you don't even have to keep notes for every picture taken. Metafile data is also useful to photography contest judges, as they know what CAN be done with the original settings and what cannot (they can tell, for instance, if you "juiced up" the colours with an editor, or "airbrushed" any parts you didn't particularly like lol). It's part of the reason that nowadays (if the winner gets a substantial monetary award) judges ask for the actual file, rather than a print.

Martin: I actually LIKE the fact that the sun wasn't the star (no pun intended lol) in that photo... that made the picture ever so much more interesting with the shadows, sky colour and dominance of the building structures : )

Gees: December? That could have been a memory from MAY in my part of the world (giggles).

Jakeroo: What kind of camera do you have? Compact? SLR? DSLR? That'll make a huge difference. If you have a DSLR or SLR, this site is pretty good about explaining what kind of settings you would want to use: Lightning Tips

If you have a compact point and shoot, you'll still want to lock the focus to infinity (something I didn't do with my second photo). Most compact cameras you can do that, but you'd have to look at the owner's manual for your specific camera. The site above can still be used to give you a general idea about F-Stop and setting up though.

No more weather pics as there is a new two week theme. However I will leave this open in case you want to continue the camera discussion for a while.Thanks all for some wonderful weather pics. Truly impressive.

Pyonir: thanks so much for the link and info
Ren: awww, that's very nice of you! You can close it though. We can continue the convo in another thread (assuming i remember what it was I wanted to say lol).