Critique my edits

[Xia_Ke]

This is a shot I liked a lot from the lightning series I posted the other day. I've been playing around with different edits of it and can't decide what works best. Which do you guys think or do you have suggestions for a different edit that may work better? The first is the original. Feel free to edit at will.

[gahspidy]

I like the second image,or edit #1. It seems to have the impact of the deep saturation and darker skies, but shows stronger definition of the silhouetted tree on the left and the green lights at the bottom.

[GB1]

The bottom three seem pretty much the same, perhaps ever so slightly different. I like # 2. The colors are pretty, and it was a heck of a capture.

-GB

[LeeIs]

I like the last one even though they're all pretty similar. I think the lightning there is to my liking and not as light as 2. The sky also isn't as dark or vignetted as 3.

How do you shoot lightning pics? I assume you put your cam on manual and leave the shutter open till one strikes. What setting do you use for something like that?

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks for your input guys It is just a subtle change between the 3. #2 was my original edit. #3 I increased the black point to try and make the lightning pop even more. However, this upped the vignetting. #4 was after a little vignetting correction.

Leels, I was set at f/5.6, ISO 800, and Bulb. Basically I set my tripod up and used my remote to trigger back to back to back 20 sec (roughly) exposures for a little over a half hour. Sometimes if the lightning was bright, than I would trip the shutter just short of 20 seconds. I wound up with a little over 80 shots I think and out of those like 8 had lightning in them. Here's the original thread.

Thanks Again,
Aaron

[LeeIs]

Thanks for the tip Aaron

[Xia_Ke]

No problem Leels I think those settings could use some tweaking. Next time I'm going to try maybe 15 second exposure or maybe keep 20 second exposures but go f/8. We were all hanging out having beers while watching the storm, so I didn't end up playing around too much at the time.

[swmdrayfan]

Aaron, I like 3 and 4, mainly because the shafts of light from the setting sun are enhanced. I like the feel of them.
John

[pympster]

I prefer no.3 too number 2 because the actually lightning has a darker colour which goes with the rest of the photograph. Excelent shot though!

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks guys

That's no sunset John ;) It's just some light in the park. Was a little hazy out though which caught some rays. This was I like around 9:30 or 10:00 at night.