Hungarian photographer Zoltán Vanik captured this stunning panoramic image of Budapest, enlightened by dozens of lightning bolts during a severe thunderstorm a few days ago.
I asked Zoltán how he managed to create this captivating scene. He used the following gear and settings: Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 f 2.8 lens, ISO 200, f:9, 13-second exposures — except for the correct exposition of the Parliament building, which was shot at a four-second shutter speed. The final composition was made of 61 different exposures, adjusted in Photoshop Lightroom and finally merged into a single image.
Colour temperature, saturation, and contrast changes were the finishing touches. The final image you see includes approximately two hours worth of thunderstorm.
[Photo credit: Zoltán Vanik — Facebook, 500px]