The photo above shows a muted double rainbow arching over a freshly cut grain crop, punctuated by intense lightning. It was snapped near Bad Mergentheim in southern Germany in the late afternoon of July 12, 2010. The camera is directed at the rainbow (antisolar point), and while the Sun has broken through in the west, the west-to-east moving thunderstorm has darkened the eastern sky and still packs a punch. Even after a seemingly innocuous thunderstorm has passed by, lightning can still pose a serious threat. It's best to stay in a protected area until you can no longer hear thunder.

Photo details: This photo is a still frame from a movie clip, made with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and a 24-105 mm lens. The settings were 1/30 second exposure; f/7.1; ISO of 400.



