If lightning strikes in a forest when no one is around, does it make a sound?
Lightning strikes a wooded hillside near Rock Lake Drive in
South Charleston, WV. Taken from across the Kanawha river at "Mana's"
(my grandmother's) house in Dunbar, WV (at the end of 15th street).
For you fellow lightning photographers out there, you can see that this daytime photo was a little overexposed (about 7 seconds on 100 speed film), causing the lightning to almost blend in with the scenery. Only the main channel, and none of the branches, are visible.
To prevent the sunlit sky from making the picture too bright, limit
daytime exposures to around 3 to 5 seconds (use 5 seconds only for
dusk/dawn exposures and very large sky-darkening storms). This should
allow the lightning to stand out more boldly in contrast to its
surroundings.
