Especially when it's right overhead, it’s safe to say that lightening can be a pretty scary thing. However, from a distance it can be a thing of beauty. Not sure about that, then check out Transient. Filmed in 4K, it’s slow-motion at its electrifying finest.
‘Transient’ [tran-shuh nt, -zhuh nt, -zee-uh nt]
Adjective. Not lasting, enduring, or permanent; lasting only a short time; existing briefly.
Philosophy. Person or thing that is transient, especially a temporary guest, boarder, laborer, or the like.
Electricity. A sudden pulse of voltage or current.
‘Transient’ is a compilation of the best shots from American photographer Dustin Farrell during his storm chasing adventures of summer 2017.
Most of the lightning footage was captured in uncompressed raw at 1000 frames per second with a Phantom Flex4K.
One of his most difficult projects he has ever attempted his career, Farrell states that there were at least 10 days where he “Returned home with my tail between my legs and nothing to show after a ten-hour chase of 500 miles.”
These, however were outweighed by the days he captured the fascinating and impressive footage below, with a lot of it being recorded in his home state of Arizona.
He did also spend some time in the Great Plains where he captured a time-lapse of the massive super-cell shown twice in Transient.
Farrell describes lightning as being like a snowflake in that very bolt is different. He learned that lightning varies greatly in speed. Apparently, there are some incredible looking bolts captured that didn't actually make the cut because even at 1000fps they only lasted for one frame during playback. And in the other extreme he also captured some lightning that appear computer generated it lasted so long on the screen.
Check out the Transient video below.