# I actually got to go out officially...



## BoblyBill (May 28, 2008)

I have been planning this trip since January and finally got to go on a storm chase that spanned more than 300 miles. Since this time I have been chasing only when it was around my house and most of the time the storm was already severe warned. This time how ever I traveled from Sterling to Dodge City for I suspected that I would have a good chance of getting something. Yesterday (5-26-08), I drove the 370 miles to Dodge City to get there around 3 pm. Already there was some convection and some storms were developing. There was three storms that were somewhat of a line heading east. One to the north east, one to the east, and one to the south east. The one to the north was looking promising so me and my uncle headed out towards it.

1.






2.





3.





We were soon dispointed as this storm started to lose it's thunder, and start dying.

We heard over the radio that the eastern storm that we discided to neglect was now tornado warned and headed towards Greensberg, KS in order to attempt to intersept it. However, through a bunch is miss judgements, we ended up getting to the storm while is passed just to the east of Pratt and had already produced a tornado about a half an hour earlier and was then wrapped in rain. We did however elect to follow this storm east and wondered upon some debrie from friday night storms.

4.





An fire fighter came up to me while I was taking this to make sure I put my hazards on while on the side of the road and we talked for some time. After this my uncle and I, descided it was getting too late to get anything and headed for Dodge City for the night where we were awarded with a pretty nice sunset and lightning show.

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7.


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## Cameron Cushman (May 28, 2008)

Amazing photo's


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## tranceplant (May 28, 2008)

I like the last one


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## Renair (May 28, 2008)

Love the panoramic, really gives an idea how big this was!


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## Crosby (May 28, 2008)

Great shots! Love the colors of a storm.


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## darkpbstar (May 28, 2008)

those are awesome.  One of my life goals is to see a tornado, and get some photos of massive storm clouds, like when you are out of the storm, and you can see the magnitude of the clouds, and their shape much like the first one, maybe a little closer up though.  Great shots!


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## [JR] (May 28, 2008)

Wow! I love #6, impressive pictures, impressive drive


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## Alpha (May 28, 2008)

#1 is f-ing beautiful.


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## dadCameraGuy (May 28, 2008)

the panoramas are stunning - well done!


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## wallyir (May 28, 2008)

Fantastic! I`m so envious!:mrgreen:


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## tranceplant (May 28, 2008)

you should try to do HDR with some of them


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## BoblyBill (May 28, 2008)

Thanks all... I had a blast!!!! We almost caught a tornado. I was pretty proud of myself that that day only produced 4 tornado's and I had gotten us close to three of them. So even though we did get to see one, the fact the we descided to drive just over 1000 miles round trip and get that close to 3 of the 4 tornados made me happy.


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## notelliot (May 29, 2008)

i really like the first two shots. makes me wish i had a car.


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## NJMAN (May 29, 2008)

#1 is extremely dramatic!  Have you tried a black and white version and playing with the tones a bit? Also, I think it would add to the drama more if the power lines on the right were cloned out.  Just my thoughts.


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## dadCameraGuy (May 29, 2008)

was looking at these again... great stuff

in #2, is this a tornado?


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## The Don (May 29, 2008)

damn i wish i can take shots like those... i like the thunder shot. too bad we dont have storms and such like that here in california.


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## AverageJoe (May 30, 2008)

Great photos.


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## chris82 (May 30, 2008)

No 1 and 7 are amazing,I wiah I lived closer to a storm central as you do!


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## KD5NRH (May 31, 2008)

BoblyBill said:


> I have been planning this trip since January and finally got to go on a storm chase that spanned more than 300 miles.



If you're going to be out there anyway, get a ham license and find a Skywarn spotter class.  It will help you know what to look for and how to handle what you find, and you'll be able to help other folks stay out of it.

Besides, NWS loves good storm photos from the spotters; they make great training material.


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## Joves (May 31, 2008)

I like number one. It looks mean and, nasty.


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## Rachelsne (May 31, 2008)

I love number 1, but I think your crazy...and im jealous


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## BoblyBill (Jun 2, 2008)

KD5NRH said:


> If you're going to be out there anyway, get a ham license and find a Skywarn spotter class. It will help you know what to look for and how to handle what you find, and you'll be able to help other folks stay out of it.
> 
> Besides, NWS loves good storm photos from the spotters; they make great training material.


 
I have been wanting to get a ham license and will probably sometime in the next year. I do know what to look for in a storm but when there are three that are just starting to develop it is hard to tell which one is going to produce the tornado.


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## TrickyRic (Jun 2, 2008)

Great shots and a lucky opportunity. Personally I'd never drive 1000 miles for my hobby, but what the hell LOL.

Your first horizon isn't quite aligned, and the focus of shot 5 looks slightly too soft for my liking. Otherwise great.

I've never been lucky enough to capture lightening. Even with tripods and long shutter speeds I seem to miss them every time! Any tips?


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## spiffybeth (Jun 2, 2008)

dadCameraGuy said:


> was looking at these again... great stuff
> 
> in #2, is this a tornado?


its just a rain shaft

chris, amazing pictures!!!! that first one, wow!! :hail:


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## BoblyBill (Jun 2, 2008)

dadCameraGuy said:


> was looking at these again... great stuff
> 
> in #2, is this a tornado?


 
Spiffybeth is correct, though as I looked at it closer it was not even there in the orginals... I believe what you are seeing where a layer mask is ending actually.


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## rjackjames (Jun 13, 2008)

wow stunning photos


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## LaFoto (Jun 13, 2008)

Boy, that second photo does look thoroughly MENACING! I'd pee my pants ... storms fail to make me happy in any manner ... but your photos are enormous! (As seem to have been the storm cells, wow).


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## Hawaii Five-O (Jun 14, 2008)

Awesome shots! The colors in #5 are great!


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## BoblyBill (Jun 16, 2008)

LaFoto... if you were out there with a trained professional would you still be scared? 

Thanks C677T


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## tkaat (Jun 18, 2008)

#1, 6 & 7 are my fav's 
i have always wanted to take pictures of lightning. 
Something about lightning is just jaw-dropping to me 

awesome photos


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## The Empress (Jun 18, 2008)

WOW, amazing shots!!!! I love storms


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## BoblyBill (Jun 20, 2008)

Thanks guys


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