Flash Photography
Shooting an electrical storm isn't easy—but one photographer has it down to a science.
Jason Weingart01Lightning travels at speeds of up to 200 million miles per hour. It comes, quite literally, in a flash and often disappears before you can reach for your camera.\ \ **Weston, Missouri**
Jason Weingart02That makes it hard to photograph unless you’re a pro like Jason Weingart. He's mastered the art of shooting lightning while tailing storms in more than a dozen states, from Texas to Wyoming. "If it's flashing, I'm on it," he says.\ \ **Monument Valley, Arizona**
- Jason Weingart03He snapped his first lightning photo at Daytona Beach, in 2009. He hadn't planned it—the lightning bolt just shot into the frame—but he was hooked. "I became addicted and put everything else to the side," he says.\ \ **Safford, Arizona**
Jason Weingart04Thousands of storms later, he's nailed down his technique. He and his partner in chasing and life, Savannah Weingart, hit the road from their home in Austin every spring to track storms and shoot photos.\ \ **US-Mexico border**
- Jason Weingart05Usually by the time the couple arrives, lightning is already cracking across the sky. "I've had my hair stand on end on a couple of occasions," Weingart says. “It means you're standing in a charged area, which is the first step to having a lightning strike initiate.”\ \ **Riviera Beach, Florida**
- Jason Weingart06He mounts his Canon 6D on a tripod, shooting as the storm rolls towards him. When it's broad daylight, he hooks his camera up to a lightning trigger that trips the shutter when it senses a flash. In lower light, he relies on an intervalometer that activates a sequence of photos.\ \ **Benson, Arizona**
- Jason Weingart07Weingart takes long exposures, sometimes keeping the shutter open more than 10 seconds to capture a lightning bolt's entire zigzagging trajectory. Later in Photoshop, he tweaks the images, stacking up as many as 200 from the same location to show multiple lightning flashes over time.\ \ **Bruceville-Eddy, Texas**
- Jason Weingart08Weingart can't really explain why he does it, but his photographs do the talking. They're awesome in the truest sense of the word, capturing the dangerous power and beauty of lightning so you don't have to.\ \ **Brenham, Texas**
Laura Mallonee is a writer for WIRED covering photography. ... Read More
These Surreal Portraits Are Like Mathematical Puzzles
Kensuke Koike adds nothing and takes away nothing from the portraits he alters—just rearranges the parts.
Laura Mallonee
Shining a Light on America’s Prisons—and the Lives Inside
Stephen Tourlentes has spent more than two decades photographing the bright glow of prisons on the periphery of society.
Laura Mallonee
Space Photos of the Week: Gaia Tallies Up Our Milky Way
The European Space Agency's craft has already has catalogued more than 1 billion stars.
Shannon Stirone
Ominous Views of Japan's New Concrete Seawalls
Can these 41-foot-high walls protect the country from another tsunami?
Michael Hardy
These Celebrity Portraits Are Fake. Sort of
The photographs of Britney Spears, Donald Trump, and others aren't what they seem.
Michael Hardy
Where NASA Posts Its Best Space Photos, and How to Find Them
Explore decades of incredible images and videos of stars, planets, moons, and galaxies—most of which are free to use and share.
David Nield
Satellite Images Reveal How Suspected Scam Compounds Appear Out of Nowhere
Analysis of satellite images of Myanmar shows dozens of alleged scam compounds have appeared in recent months, despite a purported crackdown on the criminal organizations.
Matt Burgess
New York Governor Signs First Statewide Data Center Moratorium
“We have no choice but to address the challenges created by these massive facilities,” New York governor Kathy Hochul said. The executive order will pause construction for one year.
Molly Taft
Space Lasers Show How Venezuela’s Earthquakes Reshaped the Earth’s Crust
New satellite imagery reveals how much terrain has shifted in the wake of the twin quakes.
Jorge Garay
Livestream Replay: Inside The World of Online Romance Scams
The Yahoo Boys author Carlos Barragán joined Kate Knibbs to answer your questions about Nigeria's romance scammers.
Kate Knibbs
What if the Universe Isn’t as Uniform as Scientists Think?
A study based on 47 million galaxies found that the cosmic web retains patterns on enormous scales, which could force a reevaluation of a pillar of cosmology.
Jorge Garay
What’s Worse Than Romance Scams? Adoption Scams
This week in WIRED Book Club, we recap the final chapters of The Yahoo Boys.
Kate Knibbs
