Lightning over the Sam Parr Biological Station.  24 mm, F/4, ISO 400, 30 s exposure.

Lightning over the Sam Parr Biological Station.  24 mm, F/4, ISO 400, 20 s exposure.

Southern Illinois Lightning.  24 mm, F7.1, ISO 100, 23.6 sec exposure, cropped.

Short break from Iceland.  Lightning near Sam Parr Biological Station.  24mm, F/6.3, ISO 100, 36.7 sec exposure, cropped.

Lightning, southern Illinois. 86 mm (cropped), F/8, ISO 200, 72.7 sec. exposure.

Illinois thunderstorm.  86 mm (cropped), F/7.1, ISO 200, 40.5 sec exposure.

Lightning west of Louisville, Illinois. 86 mm, F/6.3, ISO 200, 49.4 sec exposure (cropped).

Lightning over Sam Parr Biological Station.  14 mm, F/10, ISO 200, 25 sec exposure, cropped.

Lightning looking south from Sam Parr Biological Station.  14 mm, F/7.1, ISO 400, 25 sec exposure, cropped.

A particularly bright lightning stroke reflected in Forbes Lake.  18 mm, F/5, ISO 200, 96 sec exposure.

Double bolts from a bit closer.  21 mm, F/10, ISO 200, 20.1 sec exposure.

Distant lightning reflected in Forbes Lake, IL.  21 mm, F/10, ISO 200, 23 sec exposure.

Good start to the thunderstorm season.  42 mm, ISO 200, F/5, 25 sec exposure.

Same location, different storm. This one occurred a little earlier in the day so a higher aperature setting and less exposure. 18 mm, ISO 200, F/5.6, 20 second exposure.

This is the last photo I got of this storm. I decided not to crop this one so that the whole storm can be seen. 26 mm, ISO 200, F/4, 16.6 sec exposure.

More lightning from the storm. 28 mm, ISO 200, F/4, 24.6 sec exposure.

Sometimes I get lucky and the storms come to me. This storm developed 10 - 20 miles southeast of our house and gave quite a show. All I had to do was go outside. Plus I had the added benefit of being too far away to get killed by my subject. 26 mm, ISO 200, F/4, 25.3 sec exposure.

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.