July In Central Montana

[steveeshom]

In July my family and I traveled to Central Montana for our annual get together. As it ended up the weather was absolutely perfect for photography. Warm sunny days followed by an afternoon thunderstorm...everday for 7 days! I was so lucky to have such great weather.

We stayed at a cabin outside of Geyser, MT. It sits between the Little Belt mountains to the south and the Highwood mountains to the north. The view from 5000' at the cabin is fabulous. To the east you can see mountain ranges over 150 miles away! Big Sky Country at its best.

I've included a sampling of my favorite images from the trip in this post. If you'd like to see more, run on over to my set at Flickr.

Also, make sure you watch my short on one of the thunderstorms: http://www.vimeo.com/27447524

Wolf Butte by steveeshom, on Flickr

Dissapating by steveeshom, on Flickr

Sunset Storm by steveeshom, on Flickr

 

[ront]

These are outstanding Steve!! Very nice light in all of them. Love the summer storm photo and the video was also very nice!

Ron

 

[Mike-PDX]

All of these are spectacular, Steve. I'm curious about that lightning shot. How did you manage to get the fantastic color at the same time as the bolt of lightning? Or was it a double exposure?

 

[JDueckPhoto]

Very nice shots... the last one is especially killer

 

[steveeshom]

I'm curious about that lightning shot. How did you manage to get the fantastic color at the same time as the bolt of lightning? Or was it a double exposure?

The thunderstorm started just after 9pm with sunset occurring around 9:15pm. The lightning didn't start to appear until 9:25pm. I set up and began taking 20-30 second exposures so that I could capture the lightning. As the storm progressed the setting sun lit more and more of the scene. Since the sun was technically over the horizon I'm guessing the light you see in these images is reflections off of higher clouds. So, no double exposures and no trickery, just great Mother Nature provided conditions!

Here's a photo shot a full 10 minutes prior to the one above. Still very nice but the setting sun just wasn't as nice in this one.

Summer Storm by steveeshom, on Flickr

 

[L.L. Heim.]

That last shot is amazing! What a great reminder of why not to give up shooting until it's too dark to see.

 

[Digital Latte]

great images....fantastic

 

[steveeshom]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

 

[squirl033]

these are really great... love the lighting... and the lightNing!

 

[JaniceL]

Incredible shots, especially the lightning which is incredible.

Could be hair raising however. Be careful, you can be struck by lightning 10 miles from the storm.

 

[Yelena]

Awesome light