This image was taken from the observation terrace on Biskupia Kopa in the Opawskie Mountains. A storm was developing in the distance, so I set up my camera with a telephoto lens on a tripod and started an interval sequence.
The telephoto setup gave me both safety and control. I could stay far from the active storm core, and there wasn't even rain reaching my position.
I don't photograph storms from exposed ridges when lightning gets close; if the distance closes, I stop shooting and move to shelter.
After getting home, I imported all files and started the first selection pass. From several hundred frames, I kept only a few dozen where lightning was visible. Then I narrowed those down again to the strongest single strikes and cleanest structure in the clouds.
Then comes the Photoshop part. Even with a tripod, tiny vibrations between shots appeared, so the first step was careful layer alignment. The second step was blending modes to merge only the lightning from each frame into one final composition.
The last step was color grading and contrast tuning to keep the scene natural while preserving the drama of the storm. After that, the image was ready.
