NICE!!!!!

No doubt a shot of a life time!.... Looks freaky as well!

Makes my hair stand on end! As it stormed last night in Berkeley, I laid in the hot bath hoping that the lightening would strike elsewhere.

A whole new meaning to the song "You light up my life" (LOL).

Woulda been really funny if somebody woulda been making a music video at the same time on the bridge with 'em covering that song but set up somehow to protect everyone. Might've even been kinda cool. Maybe some other song. O----r what if some dumbA$$ decided to propose to his woman on the bridge at the same time and though unharmed (which would then qualify the incident as halirious) the lightening struck and lit up the car at the same time the "You light up my life" song was playing.

Or maybe we'll have us a real live brand new super hero.

Raw powe,r totally awesome. I love lightning storms With the bay bridge there makes for a great photo.

Cool. I used to live a couple of miles from here. What was also awesome was the sound the wind would make when a big storm came blowing through the Golden Gate. Like a freight train.

There are 9 bolts.

Only 8, look at where they hit the bridge, forget the clutter up above

At first I thought you said 9 volts. Sorry LOL

what a shocking photo...

There are nine bolts..its alittle tricky to count them but keep counting each point of contact with bridge. At first it may appear to be 8 but its actually 9.

nine

Definitely nine, and a faint tenth in the distance, but beyond the end of the bridge.

Very cool shot, however you count them.

@Nelsonpt22: Geez, there was absolutely no reason for you get rude! I thought this was one article where I could read the comments without there being name calling or political involvement. You proved me wrong.

I'd be a lot more worried about getting hit by lightning than I would be about a stupid camera getting wet and I use a $2000 Canon. That's what insurance is for,dummy.

Just awe-inspiring! I love storms anyway but to actually get to see such a powerful image of one as in the photo makes me appreciate both Mother Nature and the photographer.

Is it too nit picky though to as why the caption says "make" a picture vs. take a picture? For a split second I thought maybe it was contrived or created rather just being shot in real time by the photographer. <shrugs>

Very cool picture. This was obviously a long exposure due to the car's headlights appearing as streams of light.

Correct. They didn't happen at the same time. Open shutter you can get as many as the time allows.

Very cool. And VERY RARE. The Bay area doesn't get storms like this often. Maybe once a decade.

yup

You misspoke. You should have given the credit to Mother Nature not the "creator."

Ah! The illusion in the sky!

The Creator and Mother Earth had an argument Mama won. That photo is AWESOME!!!!

That's where I go to smoke me a doobie.

nine strikes on friday the 13th, whatta sight !!!........

WOW! Just WOW! I heard this HUGE crackel of thunder around 3am (I am in Salinas) so he maybe took this around 1:30 or so. We saw a couple of flashes of lightning, but I was in bed so didn't have time to get out and see them. But as an artist, I really can appreciate this shot! WOWWW!

That is an almost once in a lifetime shot. It rains a lot there but thunder and lightening are more rare than in other parts of the country.

Almost all lightning photos are time lapse, unless the photographer got extremely lucky, or shot the lightning accidentally.

I was thinking the same thing.

They didn't all hit the bridge at once duh.....it's obviously a time-lapsed photo....look at the blur of the headlights, how well the streetlights on the bridge appear, and the paths of the raindrops on the window that have travelled from the wind. They didn't all hit the bridge at once, but whether it's a time-lapsed or not who cares....awesome pic I would have been damn proud to have taken myself.

there are actually 11 if you look closely, 10 at the bridge itself, There are 2 to start with one very faint, plus the other eight on the bridge, followed by on more off in the horizon. God can make even the most dangerous of events seem so majestical. Praise be to our father.

Amen brother.

Why the insult, especially when your own post contains errors? It's an amazing photo!

It's 8

It's 8.

It sure looks like 9... I really couldn't care less though, its an incredible picture.

Lol, I noticed that too (actually, if you look real closely, you will see 10 bolts - there's a very thin bolt near the large bolt to the far right, hitting the top of the bridge). But numbers aside, what an incredible photo!! Just stunning! Congratulations to the man who snapped this shot. Another amazing light show from the Almighty Creator!

I see 9 on the bridge and a very faint one to the left of the bridge.

Susan you are correct, there are 9 bolts hitting that bridge last night. You would think they would have caught it before putting it over the net. Good Eye!!!!

nine

Nine strikes people. Quit being stupid and saying eight.

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but a shot like this actually isnt a "shot". It is done through time exposure on a camera in the "bulb" setting. You can tell because there arent any defined cars on this bridge, only streams of light. These thunderbolts occurred over a period of time, not all at once. Still a great photo though!

excellent observation. You are 100% correct.

SD Steve...thanks! I had asked in my previous post if I was being nit-picky about the caption reading "make" a picture vs. take a picture. So what you're saying, and what someone else also mentioned about time lapse means the picture was MADE over a period of time to appear to show a number bolts striking at the same time out of a series of photos?

However it was done it's truly astonishing and artistic...bravo!

There are Four lights!!

Actually MsLoco, time lapse is not the correct term, this would be an example of an extended time exposure. Time lapse is taking a a long series of images, ususally thousands, over a period of time from a fixed perspective, and playing them back at a fast rate to make it appear time is passing very quickly (like nature shows showing a seed growing into a plant and growing a flower in seconds). A time exposure involves putting your camera on a tripod and leaving the shutter open for a long period of time. In this case, likely at least a minute if not much longer. When there is no lightning, most of the scene contributes no light, thus things such as the sky, water, drops on the window,and most of the bridge are only being "captured" when the actual lightning strikes occur (this is how a camera flash also works). At the same time any other light sources are captured, creating the glow like effect lighting up the rain under and around the street lamps, and the streaks of the car lights driving down the road. The same effect is used to capture images of fireworks, waterfalls, shooting stars, and pretty much anything else that gives that appearance of a flowing source of water or light that cannot be captured in a fraction of a second alone.

Not saying any of this to take away from the image, it is still a great image, I would be proud to have taken it, and so should the photographer. If anything I think he deserves more credit for using proper technique and equipment to create a great image than the "wow that was once in a lifetime luck" comments that people are posting. I think actually having the ability to use your equipment to create a moment of magic and disbeleive for people is a sign of a good artist.

How do you know this is NOT a timelapse? He may have taken several exposures then stacked them in Photoshop to get several lighting strokes. Who knows for sure? Nowadays, I don't believe what I see in images looking exactly what they were when they were snapped through the lens.

How do you know this is NOT a timelapse?

Had you read the linked story, mentioned in the fist paragraph of this story, you wouldn't have to ask.

...set up his camera on a long exposure for about 20 seconds.

Singular reference means a single long-exposure. Time-lapse always involves multiple and separate images. I don't see any evidence of 'layers', or any reason to doubt his description of how he shot this.

If by god you mean the liquid and ice particles that are above the freezing level in a cloud colliding, and then building up a large electrical field to a point of discharge, then yes, a magic man in the sky just let us know how small we are.

Then again, eight bolts of this amazing display of power were just made inert by some well placed lighting rods and a grounded foundation.

Still, all and all, great pic.

Congratulations on the awesome photo!!!! I love that the beauty was captured in this wonderful moment!! I can say it sure must of been worth the wait !!! GREAT JOB!!!!

I never really thought of God using nature like King Kong pounding his chest to show how pitiful we all are. While I have my own spiritual beliefs, there are natural occurrences, not everything has to be directed by God and some message from God. What an awful insult to people who lose their homes and lives to natural events.

Actually the magic man in the sky was Zeus...he just saw "wrath of the titans" and was pissed he spent $20 to see that POS

THERE are 9 possible 10 cause there is a very fant one on the far right with the other one

I thought the same thing at first but i dont actually think that the one back there is hitting the bridge... i think its just off in the distance... you know what i mean.

Nine strikes on the bridge!

regardless-3 strikes and u are OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

haha I just posted the same thing! I'm a photographer and I see nine bolts also. It's actually (just for sake of conversation) probably an f stop(aperture) of 14 or greater with a shutter speed of 8" or slower. You can tell by the illumination of car lights that the shutter has been slowed down to a rate that enables much more time for a camera to capture light. Otherwise you will find yourself taking 800 photos just hoping to click at the right moment. Balance is everything! I love this photo though!

You are right Jolee! As soon as I saw the eight points star shape of the light posts, I was wonder if this was a multiple shot with at least three or four shots with an f11 and 30 seconds shutter speed. I did not noted the car light trails but for me it is still amazing because is a very difficult shot. I said that at least 30 seconds each shot because once you see or experience something like this, you want to make sure that the storm is over. This a once in a life time experience. It deserves to be in any great magazine. Probably it will becomes an iconic picture of the Golden Gate bridge.

I believe it is a time exposed shot where you leave the shutter open for a period of time. You see the streaks on the bridge, they are car head lights and tail lights over an exposed shot. Still it is a great pic but not all the strikes were at one time.

Sorry!! I got confused. I mean the Bay Bridge.

Amazing!! nice

i found it to be...simply shocking...