This is the last picture in this storm series. I've cropped in a bit tighter on this picture than the others, because the lightning is more hidden behind the clouds. I thought it was this detail that shows up better when it's cropped in, is what makes this picture interesting. 18 mm, 200 ISO, F/8, 19.6 sec exposure.

Rain started during this shot and a couple drops got on the lens, had to do a little touch-up work with the clone stamp to hide them. 18 mm, 200 ISO, F/8, 8.5 sec exposure.

This was the sweet spot where the storm was far enough away to get some cool shots, but not close enough to drench me with rain. 18 mm, 200 ISO, F/8, 13.4 sec exposure time.

Same storm, as it drew closer. 18 mm, 200 ISO, F/8, 7 sec exposure.

I've been out trying to get some new thunderstorm pictures many times this year without much luck. Finally a couple of weeks ago I went out and was just about to give up when a very electrically active storm moved in from the North. This picture shows this storm when it was still off in the distance. Also starting with this image I've decided to start posting the camera settings for the picture in hopes that I'll start paying more attention to what settings are required for certain picture environments. 18 mm, 200 ISO, F/8, 67.8 s exposure.

I think these are young tree swallows. I took this one with my new lens, which allowed me to be far enough away to allow them to act normally, though the mom dive-bombed me occationally.