Statue of Liberty hit by lightning. Awesome pic

Okay, this is cooler than the Tiger golf shot. Although perhaps it could use a Cigar Guy.

http://gizmodo.com/5664768/the-statue-of-liberty-hit-by-lightning

 

Oh, must resist the urge to make a political joke here...

 

It doesn't look like it hit the statue. It looks like it hit the ground next to the statue.

Still, nice shot.

 

We need a "how to" thread here.

 

I work for Gizmodo. Need the hits or Denton won't pay me.

 

Nice shot, but I would think the statue gets struck by lightning on a regular basis. It's made of copper fer crissakes.

 

Guy beside me just said "that'd be easy to fake."

I kind of agree. Can anyone tell if it's photoshopped?

And, the tight shot looks good considering how closely he had to zoom in on the crop.

 

By the power of greyskull!

 

There is at least one semi-famous photoshopped image of the statue.



But so far I've seen no evidence that the lightning was photoshopped, although that was my first thought upon seeing it.

Reminded me of this one . . . which is photoshopped.

 

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You need to do a timed exposure and/or just hold the shutter open until you get some good bolts in front of your lens.

Keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid it looking all shitty and grainy.

The higher the aperture the better, though you probably won't be able to get away with a very high setting.

I'm surprised there aren't more photos like this out there, honestly. It'd be a tough shot to get just right, but one I'd think a lot of people would try for.

 

Especially with all of those immortal guys getting their heads chopped off in New York.

 

Our photographers have taken their share of lightning pictures before. Find a big target, follow Pilot's how-to instructions, and hope for the best.
The link quoted the photog who took the Statue of Liberty pic as saying he'd been trying to get it for 40 years. During this particular storm he took about 80 pictures before getting it right. So I'm coming down on the "not photoshopped" side until it's proven otherwise.