Lightning Near Arches National Park in Utah



Rain



412 miles



We drove back and forth to Arches National Park yesterday. The drive was very scenic, and we finished up The Lightning Thief audio book. (And we saw a lot of lightning!) And the children watched the movie again. I wrote more about this children's book in a recent post.



"Zeus has His Say"



I just learned from National Geographic photographer Peter Essick at a seminar how to shoot lightning. He said to use F8 and 1/30 of a second. He also said to set up your camera on continuous shooting on a tripod. To set up my Nikon D-90 press the button on the top of the camera that looks like a picture of multiple photographs stacked on top of each other; then, spin the rear dial to cycle through the options. H will shoot 4.5 frames per second as long as you hold down the shutter. Check your camera manual for other cameras.  I took about 400 photographs and ended up with three nice lightning images.



I recommend this park for exploring with children because it is a quick drive through the park. You can stop as often or as little as you want. I felt as though we all saw the park pretty thoroughly in a couple hours. We were lucky that it rained while we were at the Sand Dune Arch; this was our favorite part.



Sand Dune Arch -- "The Playground"



"Stoney End"